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MOODY'S 

GREAT SERMONS 



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TO THE READER OF THIS 
VOLUME 

Kindly handle this book with the utmost 
care on account of its fragile condition. 
The binding has been done as well as pos- 
sible under existing conditions and will 
give reasonable wear with proper opening 
and handling. 

Your th ought f illness will be appreciated 




-VyV ' 



DWIGHT L. MOODY 



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MOODY'S 

Great Sermons 



Twenty-Four Discourses 

BY ."' .- 

E> WIGHT L. MOODY 



Love — Where Art Thou ? — What Think Ye of Christ ? — Preach 
the Gospel — Heaven — What Seek Ye r — Blessed Hope — - 
The Worldly Professor — Repentance — Excused — No 
Room for Him — Their Rock is not as Our Rock — 
Tekel— No Difference — Grace — Come — 
Why Halt Ye ? — Son, Remember — Be 
Not Deceived — Peace — Assur- 
ance — The Promises — 
Confessing Christ 

Complete Biography of the Famous Revivalist 




ENTIRELY NEW EDITION 



Ch'.cago 
LAIRD & LEE, Publishers 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 

Of' 

JAN 2 2 1903 

BegUter of Copyright*, 



y$>* 



51576 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899, 

By WM. H. LEE, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



Copyrighted by WM. H. LEE, 1900. 



*&o„\ ; <^W, 










CONTENTS 



DWIGHT L. MOODY, his Life, his Personality, his Work. vii. 

LOVE. 

A False Idea— A Chicago Church— Why Does God Love the Unlovely 
—His Love Unchangeable— His Love Unfailing— A Mother's Love— A 
Court Scene — The Communists of Paris — The Depth, Length and 
Breadth of this Love— Incident at Dublin— The Boy Preacher— A Great 
Crowd— Seventh Sermon on God's Love— Arrested as a Spy— The Flags 
of Two Governments— A Wandering Son— An Angry Father— A Mother's 
Dying Bed-side— Wonderful Love— This Night be Reconciled 11 

WHERE ART TfiOU? 

First Question put to Man— Where am I ?— Who am I ?— What am I ? 
—Where am I going ?— The Professed Christian— Where Art Thou ?— 
Fashionable Society— A Pitiful Sight— Where is Your Boy ?— Asleep in 
the Church— The Backslider— Where Art Thou ?— The Prophet's Plea— 
The Shepherd's Voice— The Unsaved— Where Art Thou ?— Pay Your 
Vows— A Skeptic— Coldness of Infidelity— A Young French Nobleman— 
A Great Trouble— Young Man Where Will You Spend Eternity ?— Settle 
this To-night 27 

WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST ? 

The Greatest Preacher— Report of Travelers in Palestine— Four 
Kinds of Heavens — Wonderful Physicians — The Great Comforter— 
Either God-man, or an Impostor— Settle This Question To-night— Was 
He God-man ?— One Side or the Other— Witnesses Examined— Caiph as— 
Pilate— Herod— A Lady— Judas— 'T Have Betrayed Innocent Blood "— 
A Singular Array of Testimony— The Executioner's Testimony— Truly 
This Was the Son of God— Record of the Testimony of the Devils- 
Witnesses of Friends— The Aposties— Saul of Tarsus— Other Witnesses 
—Publish His Name 41 

PREACH THE GOSPEL. 

That Means Cleveland— The Weakness of the Apostles— Struck with 
the Black Plague— Good News— Sin— A Bible Illustration— Death — A 
Pall-bearer— A Partaker of the Divine Nature— No Sting in Death— The 
Grave— Conquering the Grave — The Judgment — Christ the Sinner's 
Substitute— No Demand for a Second Payment— Believe —The First 
Step— A Universal Offer— Buny an' s Description— An incident of Glas- 
gow—Come—What Will You Do V— A Russian Anecdote— You Can if 
You Will 60 

HEAVEN. 

An Erroneous Idea — A Dublin Incident— Departed Friends— Too 
Busy in the WorM— Not All Speculation— Belief in its Location and a 
Dwelling Place— John's Revelations — A Difference— Are There Three 
Degrees ?— Or a Third Heaven— An Explanation— One Thing We Do 
Know— Contemplating a Journey— Why Heaven Will be Attractive— A 
Brooklyn Incident— Paul's Idea— A Card from London— A New Song— 

A Little Child— A Beautiful Thought 76 

iii. 



IV. „ CONTENTS. 

HEAVEN-No. 2. 

''Other Seventy Also"— Name Written in the Book— A False Idea 
—Paul's Letter— A Party Visiting Liverpool— The Book of Life— What 
This Book Reveals— The Cause of Joy in Heaven— The Treasures of 
Heaven— Our Hearts Where Our Treasure is— A Saint — On the Pacific 
Coast— At New Orleans— We are Traveling— Our Reward not Here — 
Ashamed of Modern Christianity — Paul's Afflictions — Alexander's 
Greatness— Napoleon's Power— Passed Away— Paul's Words Still Pow- 
erful—A Mighty Warrior at Rome— Question Him— What a Reward. 92 

WHAT SEEK YE ? 

First Words of Christ's Ministry— All Seeking Something— Human 
Nature Unchanged— An Incident at Philadelphia— In London— Motives 
that Attract — A Personal Question— No Mistakes — Start Right — Sin 
Extravagant— A Reminiscence— My Neighbor— How Seek ?— My Objec- 
tion to Being Saved— A Wrecked Vessel— A Question— Do You Believe ? 
Eternal Life 107 



BLESSED HOPE. 

Give a Reason— Faith One Thing— Hope Another— The One as Neces- 
sary as the Other— No Hope— Governor Curtin— Geo. H. Stuart— Only 
One Class— A False Hope— Examine Ourselves— A Better Hope than 
Another Has — Anecdote — Incident— The Drunkard— The Defaulter- 
Repentance Beyond the Grave— A Good Test — Story of the Two Millers 
—Lay Hold of trie Rope— A Well Grounded Hope— Waiting for Some- 
thing—Not Struck Yet— Take this Hope 118 

THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 

Christians, but not Spiritual— Lot— Abraham— Get Out of Haran— 
Take Yoor Pick— Sweetest Lesson Learnt— Lot's Fine Choice— Sodom 
and Her Weil-watered Plains — A War— A Change— Trying to Make 
Money— A Successful Man— Twenty Years and No Convert— Worldly 
Christian's Influence— Church Full of Them— Your Man of Influence- 
Why He Lingered— Take Your Inventory— Make Haste— Open Our Eyes 
—Honor of the World— Content 135 



A Command— God's Appointment— Repentance— What it is Not— An 
Anecdote— Turning Right About — An Illustration— The Moving Train- 
God of this World — Change Trains— The R. R. Accident— The White 
Star Line Steamer— Only One Way for All— A Friend— Afraid— A Sup- 
position—With the Command Comes the Power — A Hard Case for 
Wesley— A visit with Mr. Sankey— A Defaulter— Too Much Shame— No 
Answer to Prayers— God Loves the Sinner— A Story in English History 
—A Father's Mistake 147 

EXCUSED. 

These Three Men— Made, not Had, an Excuse— Age of Excuses- 
Adam s Excuse— No One Can Give an Excuse— An Eye Keen to Detect— 
Suppose God Takes Your Excuse— Who Wants to be Excused— Some 
Darling Sin— Man's Feast— God's Feast — You Smile — Have You a 
Better Excuse— A Challenge — No Neutrality— The Line is Drawn— Wil- 
mot, the Infidel— Who Wrote this BOOK— Where the Trouble Lies— 
Another Common Excuse— The Hard Way— ''Bridge of Sighs"— Not a 
Hard Master— A Jury Box— The Most Faithful Follower of the Devil— 
His Looks— A Faithful Follower of God— His Countenance— An Anec- 
dote of Spurgeon— "He is Coming''— Several Anecdotes— A New Jersey 
Court— Reaping What He Sowed 164 



CONTENTS. V. 

NO ROOM FOR HIM. 

Four thousand Years of Expectancy— Disappointment of the Jews 
—No. Room for Him— The Prince of Wales— What Nation To-day has 
Room for Him— Fashionable Does Not— A Borrowed Beast— Martha- 
Cost Something to Face Popular Opinion— A Dark Cloud— He Must Die 
—Worth of Such a Friend— A Feeling that No One Wants You— A Re- 
collection— Make Room Now— An Anecdote of Ingratitude— Open the 
Door— A Friend Indeed , 185 

THEIR ROCK IS NOT AS OUR ROCK. 

Moses' Farewell Address — A Good Judge — The Atheist. Deist, 
Pantheist and Infidel— Scarcity of Atheists— Nothing Darker— A Pen 
Picture— Ingersoll at his Brother's Grave— A Deist Lives on nis Doubts 
—The Belief of the Pantheisi— We are All Gods— A Good Many Infidels 
—Throw Away the Bible — A Question for Infidels— Robbery and No 
Return for It — Lyttleton & West s— Conversion— Cling to the v Good Old 
Book— Contrast Between Lord Byron's Death and Paul's— Story of a 
Soldier— A Glorious Death 198 

TEKEL. 

A Brief History— A Royal Feast— God Going to Weigh Us— Weighed 
by the Law— The Ten Commandments— Not Weighed by One but All- 
Let the Moraliss be Weighed— The Rumselier— The Drunkard— Who is 
Ready to be Weighed— Anecdotes— Without Christ What Will You 
Do ? 215 

NO DIFFERENCE. 

Go Difference— A Biography— A Natural Man's Dislike— An Absurd 
Thing— Law Without a Penalty— An Artist — Photograph of Your Heart 

— A Statement — The Prison of Columbus- -All Criminals — Divide 
Society Into a Hundred Classes— The Law of God Recognizes no Differ- 
ence—Measure Yourself — Chicago's Police — Short of the Standard— Be 
Measured and See Where You Are— Noah's Entreaty— Christ's Preach- 
ing—A Glimpse of What the Judgment Will Be— A Stupendous Failure 

— A Star to Light this Darkness— An Incident — What is Your 
Decision 234 

GRACE. 

God's Delight in Grace— The Grace of the Old and New Testament- 
Paul— A Scene— Hungering for Something — The Mischief with Many 
Churches— No Boasting in Heaven— Salvation a Gift— To Whom Offered 

— Preaching in Chicago — A Poor Diunkard — William Dorset — A 
Father's Harshness —A Dying Boy— Forgive Him ? Yes— Forgiveness 
Comes When Grace is Wanted 248 

COME. 

A Prayer— If True, Show it to Me— Noah and His Family Standing 
Alone— Laughed at— Mocked— Deluded Man— Time Passes— A Pen Pic- 
ture—Too Late— The Last Man Gone Down— The Time Coming— Are 
You Inside or Outside the Ark— God Did Not Spare the Angels When 
They Fell— The Antediluvians— The Jews— Will He You?— This is the 
Day— Come Thou 264 

WHY HALT YE ? 

God or Baal is the Question— A Character Detested— Kept Two 
Altars— Question To-night— Two Lions Driven by the Roman General— 
The Great Question of Questions— Men of Decision— Alexander— Vacil- 
lating Balaam— A Country Excited and Stirred— On the Side of Baal— 
A;Sensat ion— Build Your Own Altar— Every Eve on Him— There is No 
Sign— Another Scene— Let Us Find Out the Truth— To-morrow— What 
Will You Do with Him— One Week for a Decision— Decide Now 276 



Vi. CONTENTS. 

SON, REHEHBER. 

Memory Immortal— Wonderful Memories — Memory Will Do its 
Work— No Apology for the Past— Twice at the Point of Death— "If I 
Only Had "—Interested in a Stranger — A Strange Confession —Why 
Mock at Hell— Remorse is Sure— An Anecdote— An Incident— You Will 
Regret it— Not the Moral Courage— John Bunyan— "I Will Take the 
Risk"— One Week Later— '-No Hope for Me"— The Sin of Procrastina- 
tion 293 

BE NOT DECEIVED. 

God is not Mocked— A Chicago Reminiscence— Sankey's Singing, 
"Sowing the Seed"— Three Years Later— A Poor Prodigal in Boston— 
We want the Text— You Expect to Reap What You Sow— Paid Back in 
Your Own Coin— A Wicked Bishop— Reaping More than You Sow— The 
Heart Deceives— An Incident of New York Meetings— The Penalty of 
Sin— A Chicago Incident— Be Wise and Turn from Sin 307 

PEACE. 

Christ's Gospel— Nature and Grace— Fast Young Man— No Peace— 
Without War— A Great Mistake— An Ensign— Enemy to Peace— Right- 
eousness Before Peace — Trying to Make Peace— A Proclamation— A 
Rebel Deserter— Enter In 318 

ASSURANCE. 
A Formalist— Regenerated— Another Class— Not Willing to Work 
for Christ— A Comforting Thing— Everything Clear— Not of Yourself — 
First Adam Nature— The Second — How Add to these Graces — Two 
Kingdoms— An Anecdote— No If s— Napoleon and a Private Soldier- 
Assurance Necessary 321 

THE PROniSES. 

Call for Promises— Promise in Job— Promises all Good— At Work in 
Chicago, Collecting— Private Marks— They all Read the Same— God's 
Promises Good, the Devil's Promises Bad— Get a Little Closer— Drive 
Back the Lies of the Devil— T. P 327 

CONFESSING CHRIST. 

Two Characters— The Blind Beggar— Wash and be Cleansed— Back- 
bone— Contempt for their Parents— Ee is of Age— His Answer— A New 
Life— Stuck to What He Knew— Another Character— Clear Testimony- 
Confess Christ— A Wealthy Merchant of Dublin— Is He All O. O.?.. . 332 

PRAYERS OF MR. flOODY. 

Prayer for the Holy Spirit 340 

" Help 341 

'• " the Careless and Indifferent 341 

" "the Men's Meeting 333 

11 the Blind in Sin 344 

'• " Christian Workers 345 

" " Parents , 345 

" " Wisdom 346 

44 by Mr. Sankey 347 



DWIGHTL. MOODY 

HIS LIFE ; HIS WORK ; HIS PERSONALITY. 



Born at Northfield, Franklin County, Mass., February 5, 1837. 
"Went to Boston in 1854 and was employed in his uncle's shoe store. 
Joined the Sunday-school of the Mount Vernon Congregational Church 

in the same year and was admitted to membership of the church. 
Arrived in Chicago in 1856 and became salesman in a shoe store, 
Joined the Plymouth Congregational Church in the same year and 

organized a Sunday-school class of his own. 
Rented an empty saloon building and removed his headquarters to the 

North Side. 
Founded the Mission of North Market Hall and worked among the 

depraved young men of the " North Market street gang." 
Founded " Moody's Church " in 1863 and became its lay pastor. 
Burned out by the great fire in 1871. 

Met Ira D. Sankey in 1872 and made him his evangelical partner. 
Went to Great Britain in 1873 and amazed that country with his work. 
Founded the Northfield seminary for girls in 1875. 
Founded the Mount Vernon school for boys in 1861. 
Established the Moody Bible Istitute of Chicago in 1889, and the 

Northfield training school for women in 1890. 
Died December 22, 1899. 



D WIGHT L. MOODY'S name is coupled inseparably with the 
Town of Northfield. Mass., where he was born, in 1837. His 
Bible Training school, which he always looked on as his monu- 
ment, is located there, and when the breakdown came at 
Kansas City he hurried home to Northfield to die. The attachment for 
the little town was formed many years ago, when Mr. Moody as a boy 
ran barefoot and hungry about the town to help his widowed mother 
support himself and his eight small brothers and sisters. Years after- 
wards he established his own family there, and it was to Northfield he 
always returned after his revival seasons. 

Mr. Moody went away to Boston when he was 17 years old and 
began work as clerk in his uncle'sstore. He was given the place on con- 
dition that he would go regularly to church and Sunday-school. This 
was in line with what he always had done at home and was no bard- 
ship, but Mr. Moody in after years always told of his first months in 
Boston as if he had not then been possessed of a soul. From his stand- 
point the " light " did not come to him until, one day, after a call at the 
shoe store by his Sunday-school teacher, he was " converted." 

Much has been written about how Dwight L. Moody came to give up. 
what promised to -be a successful business career and devote all his 
energy to evangelistic work. The story, as the great evangelist himself 
told it, is as follows: 

" I had never lost sight of Jesus Christ since the first night I met 
Him in the store at Boston. When I went to Chicago, I hired five pews 

vii. 



Vlii. MOODY S BIOGRAPHY. 

in a church, and used to go out on the street and pick up young men 
and fill these pews. I never spoke to these young men about their 
souls; that was the work of the elders, I thought. 

. "After working for some time like thab, I started a mission Sabbath 
school. I thought numbers were everything, and so I worked for num- 
bers. When the attendance ran below 1,000 it troubled me; and when 
it ran to 1,200 or 1,500 I was elated. Still none was converted; there 
was no harvest.' 

"Then God opened my eyes. There was a class of young ladies in 
the school, who were without exception the most frivolous set of girls 
I ever met. One Sunday the teacher was ill and I took the class. They 
laughed in my face, and I felt like opening the door and telling them all 
to get out and never come back. 

"That week the teacher of the class came into the store where I 
worked. He was pale and looked very ill. 

" « What is the trouble ? " I asked. 

" 'I have had another hemorrhage of my lungs. The doctor says I 
cannot live on Lake Michigan, so I am going to New York State. I 
suppose I am going home to die.' He seemed greatly troubled, and 
when I asked him the reason he replied : 'Well, I have never led any of 
my class to Christ. I really believe I have done the girls more harm 
than good.' 

"I had never heard anyone talk like that before, and it set me think- 
ing. After a while I said: 'Suppose you go and tell them how you feel- 
I will go with you in a carriage, if you want to go." He consented, and 
we started out together. It was one of the best journeys I ever had on 
earth. We went to the house of one of the girls, called for her, and the 
teacher talked to her about her soul. There was no laughing then! 
Tears stood in her eyes before long. After he had explained the way of 
life he suggested that we have prayer. He asked me to pray. True, I had 
never done such a thing in my life as to pray God to convert a young 
lady there and then. But we prayed, and God answered our prayer. 

"We went to other houses. He would go upstairs and be all out of 
breath, and he would tell the girls what he had come for. It wasn't 
long before they broke long and sought salvation. When his strength 
gave out I took him back to his lodgings. The next day we went out 
again. At the end of ten days he came to the store with his face liter- 
ally shining. 

" 'Mr. Moody,' he said, 'the last of my class has shielded herself to 
Christ.' I tell you we had a time of rejoicing. He had to leave the next 
night, so I called his class together that night for a prayer meeting, 
and there God kindled a fire in my soul that has never gone out. 

"I was disqualified for busines; it had become distasteful to me. I 
had got a taste of another world, and cared no more for making 
money. For some days after, the greatest struggle of nry life took 
place. Should I give up business and give myself to Christian work or 
should I not? I have never regretted my choice. Oh, tbe luxury of 
leading some one out of the darkness of this world into the glorious 
light and liberty of the gospel." 

John V. Farwell had already become interested in the energetic 
young evangelist and given him free use of North Market Hall. 

Mr. Moody, whose preaching ability constantly improved, located 
his mission there. Mr. Farwell himself acted as superintendent. The 
hall always was used for dancing on Saturday nights, and Mr. Moody 
would come down early Sunday morning and sweep out the place with 
his own hands. 

After he had decided to give up selling shoes he devoted all his time 
to his mission. As he could find no one to pay him a salary, he slept on 



MOODY S BIOGRAPHY. ix. 

a bench in the rooms of the Y. M. C. A., which he had helped organize, 
and ate at the 10-cent restaurants. Before long his friends came to his 
aid with contributions, and on the strength of this increased pay he 
married, two years later, Miss Emma C. Revell of Chicago. Many times 
after his marriage, Mr. Moody was forced to borrow both food and 
money from his friends. 

Mr. Moody's mission continued to grow, however, in spite of pov- 
erty. In 1863 a $20,000 church was erected in Illinois street, and the 
congregation soon numbered nearly a thousand. When the Y. M. C. A. 
began the agitation for its first building, Mr. Moody was elected Presi- 
dent, and it was largely through his efforts and the financial support of 
John V. Farwell that old Farwell Hall was built. The night of the 
great fire of 1871, Mr. Moody was preaching there and had to flee with 
his congregation through the La Salle street tunnel. Within three 
months he had erected a huge frame tabernacle and resumed his 
services. 

During the years when Mr. Moody was acquiring his reputation as 
a great preacher there was one interruption. Mr. Moody went to the 
war. He did not enlist as a soldier, but went to the prisons and worked 
on the battle fields. He was with the army in the Chattanooga cam- 
paign, was one of the first to enter Richmond, and his experiences 
served him afterwards for numberless themes for his sermons. In the 
same way, he became interested in the Spanish war, visiting the camps 
and addressing the soldiers before the invasion of Cuba began. He 
would have followed the army to Cuba if his physician had not forbid- 
den him doing so. 

Mr. Moody never lacked for a story or an idea. His sermons were in 
reality a series of anecdotes mixed with appeals in such a way that in 
hearing them people never stopped to inquire about logical sequence. 
He was fond of bringing strange objects into his meetings to serve as 
texts. During his last great revival in Chicago, held two years ago at 
the Auditorium, he appeared one morning with a tea cup and a pitcher 
of water, and preached on them one of the most eloquent sermons of 
his life. He was one of the few men who never had to stop to think 
what they were going to say next. His ideas seemed to come to him 
without effort, and apparently he never had to exert much effort in 
choosing. His illustrations always were apt and he would preach day 
after day without repeating a story or using an illustration a second 
time. 

Mr. Moody's eloquence served him in raising thousands of dollars. 
It was his boast that he had given away over $2,000,000 paid him in 
contributions or in royalties on his books since he first came to Chicago. 
The bulk of the money derived from subscriptions and from sales of 
his sermons, went to support his Bible school at Northfield and the 
Chicago Bible Institute. 

When he founded the school the Bible was the only text book. 
Afterwards other branches were added to the course. A scientific and 
a classical school were added. The girls' seminary which was founded 
two years before Mr. Moody purchased the farm-house, now has an 
attendance of 350, and applications are on file for two or three years in 
advance. Mr. Moody finally had to erect a big hotel to care for the 
patrons of the school. Since it was established nearly forty large 
buildings have been erected, surrounding the Moody homestead and 
forming the center of a busy town. 

The church and Bible institute at Chicago and La Salle avenues 
were founded by Mr. Moody shortly after the fire. The money, $100,000. 
expended there was raised by him. The church is independent, but is 
closely modeled after the Congregational denomination for which Mr. 



X. MOODY S BIOGRAPHY. 

Moody always had close sympathy. He was the director of both the 
church and institute, although seldom in Chicago of late years. 

Ira D. Sankey. the famous associate of Mr. Moody in evangelistic 
work, said in an article published recently in Success : 

"I consider Dwight L.Moody the most remarkable man of the 
century, distinguished especially for his devotion to the cause of Jesus 
Christ and the betterment of the world. His character is marked by 
great common sense and by the utmost sincerity; his heart by single- 
ness of philanthropic purpose, and his life by tremendous power of 
achievement. His work has resulted in the conversion of hundreds of 
thousands of men and women." 

Mr. Sankey described the manner in which he met Mr. Moody. He 
was in Indianapolis in 1870. During a prayer meeting at which Mr. 
Moody presided the singing was poor, until Mr. Sankey sang the hymn. 
"There is a fountain filled with blood." After the meeting Mr. Moody 
asked him to leave the internal revenue service and join him in his 
Christian work. Six months later Mr. Sankey came to Mr. Moody at 
Chicago, where he worked for a year and a half. When Chicago was 
destroyed by fire Mr. Moody raised money to rebuild his church, and 
then accepted an invitation to go to England with Mr. Sankey. 

"We sailed in June, 1873," continued Mr. Sankey. "At Queenstown 
we received a letter announcing that both of the men who had invited 
us to England had died. At Liverpool Mr. Moody declared to me that if 
the Lord opened a door to us we would go in; otherwise we would 
return to America. 

"That night Mr. Moody found an unopened letter among his papers; 
it said that if we ever came to England we would be welcomed at York, 
to speak for the Y. M. C. A there. Mr. Moody said at once: 'We will go 
to York.' Our meetings there for the first day or two were not large, 
but at the end of the week no building in the city would hold all the 
people who desired to attend." 

"No man ever paid a greater tribute to his wife than Mr. Moody 
paid to Mrs. Moody," said Mrs, William K. Holden. "I never met with 
a happier couple. In every way he deferred to her. She answered all 
hisfvoluminous correspondence. She was the one to whom he always 
spoke of his plans and his work. No trouble was too great for him if 
he could save her any bother or everyday, ordinary little troubles. 
They were married in 1864, and Mr. Moody had already then started on 
his missionary work at North Market Hall. They were very poor, had 
hardly enough to live on and resided in a little house at Dearborn ave- 
nue and Indiana street, but they were happy, and this happiness has 
always continued through their lives." 

Mr. Moody's life was that of a powerful Christian, reminding one of 
the early disciples wandering all over the world preaching the Word. 
His impress on millions of minds has been deep and durable, and when 
he surrendered his soul to his Maker, one of the greatest instruments 
of mankind's salvation stopped work for ever. 



LOVE. 

You can find my text to-night almost anywhere in the 
Bible. My text is " Love," the " Love of God." This 
fourth chapter of John's epistle that I have read to-night 
says, " God is Love," and I don't know of any truth that 
Satan is more anxious to blot out of the Bible than that 
one thing, that " God is Love." If I could convince the 
world that God loves them, I think I would not preach 
anything else but just the Love of God. I would go up 
and down this nation and tell it out in towns and cities 
and villages. The enemy of righteousness is deceiving 
the world upon this point. Man has a false idea about 
God. He has an idea that God hates him because he is 
a sinner; he has an idea that God is angry with him and 
don't love him. 

I remember a few years ago we put up a church in 
Chicago — down in the heart of the city, where the 
churches had been moved away, and left a large class of 
people. There was a Christian man there that helped j 
me put the building up, and he was very anxious that 
people should believe that God was love. He was so 
afraid that I would not preach it enough that he had it 
put up back of the pulpit in gas jets, " God is Love." 
He thought if I could not preach it into the hearts of the 
people he would try and burn it in. 

I remember one night, while I was preaching, a poor 
fellow was going by half under the influence of liquor. 
The door was ajar, and he looked in and saw that text, 
w God is Love," and he kept saying, " God is not love. 

11 



12 LOVK. 

It is not true. It is a lie." He went on for a block o* 
two and came back and took a seat away back by the 
door, and when I was preaching the poor fellow was 
weeping. After the sermon was over I went down and 
talked with him. I found that the spirit of God was 
working with him, and I tried to find out what part of 
the sermon had touched him, and he said he did not 
know a thing I said. u What were you doing here if 
you did not know a thing I said?" " Ah! sir, that text 
up there, ' God is Love,' melted my heart." And he got 
down on his knees with me and made a surrender to the 
God of Love. 

Now, to-night you may ask me, u Why does God love 
those who are not worthy of His love? Why does He 
love the unlovely ?" Well, I don't know that I can an- 
swer that any better than by saying, Why does the sun 
shine? Because it can't help it. Why does God love? 
Because he can't help it That is his nature. He is love, 
and there is not a man on the face of the earth to-night 
that God don't love. God hates sin, but he makes a dis- 
tinction between sin and the sinner. God loves the sin- 
ner, but He is at war with sin, because He knows that 
sin mars our happiness. Because He loves us He wants 
us to forsake sin and turn from it. I think one reason 
we are so blind to the word of God is, that we are always 
measuring God by our rule. We love a man as long as 
he is worthy of our love, and when he ceases to be 
worthy of our love we cast him off. Not so with God. 
We must not measure God with our rule. God's love if 
unchangeable. 

I will call your attention to the first verse of the thir- 
teenth chapter of John. " Now, before the feast of the 
passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that 
he should depart out of the world unto the Father, hav- 
ing loved His own which were in the world. He loved 



LOYE. 13 

them unto the end." Now, that very night they were 
to forsake Him. That very night Judas was to betray 
Him for thirty pieces of silver. That very night Peter 
was to deny Him and swear he never knew Him. Yet 
we are told that on that memorable night Christ loved 
them. His love was unchangeable. I believe when 
Judas stepped up to Him in the garden and be- 
trayed Him with a kiss, and Christ said, "Judas, betray- 
est thou the Master with a kiss?" that there was such 
love in the tone of His voice, such love in that look, that 
it drove Judas to remorse and despair. I believe it is> 
that that is making hell so terrible to Judas. He 
trampled upon the love of God. He went down to per- 
dition trampling that love under his feet. I know that 
is what broke Peter's heart; He turned and gave Peter 
one look, and there was so much love in that look he 
went out and wept bitterly. It took Satan hours to win 
his love from Christ; it took only one look of Christ to 
win it back again. Yes, His love is unchangeable. That 
is the difference between human love and Divine love. 
Human love is very changeable. Some people who 
thought a good deal of you and me a few years ago don't 
care for us now. Their love has died out. But not so 
with Him. His ]ove is unchangeable. If there is one 
here to-night who has wandered away from Jesus Christ 
and is in a backsliden state, I want to tell you, back- 
slider, that He loves you still, and wants you to return 
to Him. 

But, again, His love is not only unchangeable but un- 
failing. I want to call your attention to a verse you 
will find in the forty-ninth chapter of the prophecy of 
Isaiah : " Can a woman forget her sucking child, that 
she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? 
Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, Behold* 



14 i-OVK. 

I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy 
walls are continually before me." 

Can a mother forget the little child of her bosom? 
Do you mothers forget your children? Now, that is 
perhaps the strongest love we know anything about on 
earth — a mother's love. There are a great many things 
that will separate a man from his wife; a great many 
things will separate a father from his son, but there is 
not anything in the wide world that will separate a true 
mother from her own child. They say that death has 
borne down everything in this world, but there is one 
thing stronger than death — that is a mother's love. 
Death has never been able to conquer that. Now, the 
prophet seizes hold of that. 

44 Can a mother forget the child of her bosom? Yea, 
she may forget, but I will never forget thee." 

Now, love always descends. I love my children more 
than they love me. They very often say they love me 
the most. They think they do but it is not true. I used 
to tell my mother I loved her more than she did me. 
She would tell it was not so; that she loved me the 
most. Since I have become a parent I find that is true. 
I love my children more than they can love me. God 
loves us a thousand times more than we can love Him. 
The apostle says: "Herein is love; not that we loved 
God, but that he loved us ;" so unlovable, so vile, so pol- 
luted. That is a love worth talking about — that God 
has fixed His love upon us, and that he loves us 44 with 
an everlasting love," as we read in Jeremiah. 

There is no end to that love; it is everlasting. I do 
not know that we can illustrate God's love better than 
by examples of human love. Your mothers know that 
there is nothing in your power to do that you will not 
do for your children, that is for their good. There are 
some things you will withhold from them because you 



lots, 25 

love them too much to grant all their wishes; and they 
think you don't love them because you do not grant their 
wishes. So, sometimes, we think God don't love us, be- 
cause He don't grant all our requests and don't answer 
all our prayers just in the time and place that we would 
have them answered, A mother's love may be very 
strong, but it is not to be compared with the love of 
God. 

I remember of reading some time ago of a scene in 
a court in this country that impressed me very much. A 
young man had become reckless and had murdered a 
man. He was arrested and sent to jail. The father, a 
V T ery proud spirited man, refused to have anything to do 
with that boy — refused to go to the prison to see him, 
and the other sons took the same course. They said 
they would not go to see that brother. But that mother 
went down to that prison cell, and every time she could 
get into the jail where that boy was she was there. 
When the time came for his trial she went into court 
and took her seat as near her boy as she could ; and when 
the spectators came in she was not ashamed to be point- 
ed out as the mother of that reckless young man. That 
is a mother's love. She loved him still. Her love was 
as strong as it ever was, and when the trial came on and 
the witnesses came and testified against the boy, it seem- 
ed to hurt the mother more than it did the boy. When 
the jury brought in the verdict that he was guilty, the 
mother, when she got a chance, threw her arms around 
the boy's neck there in court and wept over him. She 
did not give him up. He was sent back to his cell; and 
every time she could get into that cell she was there. 
That is a mother's love. A mother will not go to see 
her boy executed, but if she can get his body after he is 
executed she will cover it with her tears, and will go to 
the grave and plant flowers upon it, and drop tears upon 



16 LOVE. 

those flowers. That is a mother's love. It is far strong, 
er than death. But that love is faint as compared with 
the love that God has for every soul here to-night. u A 
mother may forget her child, but I will never forget 
thee ! " His love is unfailing. 

I want to say to every man that is without God and 
without hope, don't be deceived in this matter; don't 
think for a moment that God don't love you because you 
are a sinner. It is not true. Christ died for the ungodly. 
While we were without strength Christ died. God 
gave His son to the world. The world is at war with 
Him. We are fighting against Him. The world took 
His son and put him to death. The world is at enmity 
against God. While this world was at enmity against 
God, He gave His son freely for us all. 

There was a time when I thought a good deal more 
of Christ than the father. I thought Christ came in to 
act as mediator between me and an angry judge, and 
Christ seemed far nearer to me than the Father, but 
since I became a father that feeling is all gone. It must 
have taken more love for God to give up His Son than it 
did for Christ to come and suffer. It would be far easier 
for me to die than to see my son put to death before my 
eyes. 

Think of the love God has for this lost world, when 
He gave Christ freely for us all ! Think of the glory 
and honor He had in that upper world. Of his stooping 
from that throne, coming down into this world and suf- 
fering and dying that you and I might, through His 
ieath, enter into life eternal. " Greater love hath no 
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his 
friends." Christ not only laid down his life for his friends, 
but he laid down his life for his enemies. 

But I can imagine some of you say, " Well, I believe 
th^ Christ loves Christians and those that love Him and 



LOVE. 17 

Keep His commandments and statutes; but then I am a 
poor, miserable, vile sinner. I never loved him. I never 
recognized Him. I never kept his commandments, and 
I believe that God hates me. Don't it say in the Bible 
that God is angry with the sinner every day." That is 
one of the strongest proofs that God loves the sinner. If 
I have a boy who goes astray I get angry with him. 
But is that a proof that I do not love him? That is one 
of the strongest proofs in the Bible that God loves you 
— because he does not want you to sin and bring ruin 
and blight upon your life. The strongest proof of God's 
love is that He gave Christ to die for our sins. That 
cross testifies the love of God for this world. That cross 
on Calvary speaks out nothing but the love God had for 
this world. 

When the Communists took Paris, they took the 
Roman Catholic Archbishop and threw him into prison, 
tried him and condemned him to death. In his little cell 
there was a window, in the shape of a cross. He took 
his pencil and wrote at the top of it " Heighth," at the 
bottom, " Depth," and at each end of the arm "Length " 
and « Breadth." Ah, that Roman Catholic had been to 
Calvary and had surveyed the glory of that cross. He 
had drank in its truth. That cross tells us of God's love. 
Height : it reaches to the very throne of heaven. Depth : 
it reaches to the bottom of a lost world. Length and 
Breadth: it reaches to the very corners of the earth. 
There was something stronger than those iron nails that 
held Him to that cross; it was the love He had for a 
perishing world. Paul prayed among those Ephesians 
that they might know the heighth and the depth and the 
length and the breadth of God's love. How are we 
going to know it if we do not go to Calvary and see how 
He died, that you and I might live, and hear that pierc- 

Glorj2 



18 LOVB. 

ing cry on the cress, " Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do." There is love for you. 

I remember when I was in Dublin, Ireland, in 1867, 
I met what they called " the Boy Preacher." I had 
read in the papers about "the Boy Preacher," but I did 
not know this was the one. He introduced himself to 
me and said he would like to come to Chicago and 
preach. I looked at him ; he was a beardless boy ; didn't 
hook as if he was more than seventeen, and I said to my- 
self, "He can't preach." He wanted me to let him 
know what boat I was going on, he would like to go on 
the boat with me. Well, I thought he could not preach 
and did not let him know. I had not been in Chicago a 
great many weeks before I got a letter which said he 
had arrived in this country and that he would come to 
Chicago and preach for me if I wanted him. Well, I 
sat down and wrote a very cold letter — " If you come 
West, call on me." I thought that would be the last I 
should hear of him. But I soon got another letter say- 
ing that he was still in this country and would come to 
Chicago and preach for me if I wanted him. I wrote 
again, if he happened to come West to drop in on me ; 
and in the course of a few days I got a letter stating that 
next Thursday he would be in Chicago and would 
preach for me. Then what to do with him I did not 
know. I had made up my mind he could not preach. 
I was going to be out of town Thursday and Friday, 
and I told some of the officers or trustees of the church: 
" There is a man coming here Thursday and Friday who 
wants to preach. I don't know whether he can or not. 
You had better let him preach, and I will be back Sat- 
urday. 

They said there was a good deal of interest in the 
church, and they did not think they had better have him 
preach then, he was a stranger, and he might do more 



liOVB* 19 

harm than good. " Well, 5 ' I said, "you had better try 
him. Let him preach two nights," and they finally let 
him preach. When I got back Saturday morning I was 
anxious to know how he got on. The first thing I said 
to my wife v/hen I got in the house was, " How is 
that young Irishman coming on ? " I had met him in 
Dublin and took him to be an Irishman, but he happened 
to be an Englishman. " How do the people like him?" 
" They like him very much." " Did you hear him ? " 
" Yes." " Well, did you like him? " " Yes, I liked him 
very much. He has preached two sermons from that 
text in the third chapter of John: c For God so loved the 
world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life,' and," she says, " I think you will like him, 
although he preaches a little different from what you 
do." "How is that?" "Well he tells sinners God 
loves them." " Well," said I, " he is wrong." She said, 
w I think you will agree with him when you hear him, 
because he backs up every thing he says with the word 
of God. You think if a man don't preach as you do he 
is wrong." I went down that night to church and I 
noticed every cne brought his Bible. " Now," he said 
" my friends, if you will turn to the third chapter oi 
John and the sixteenth verse, you will find my text." 
He preached a most extraordinary sermon from that six- 
teenth verse. He did not divide the text into " secondly" 
and "thirdly" and " fourthly "—he just took the whole 
text^ and then went through the Bible from Genesis to 
Revelation to prove that in all ages God loved the 
world; that He sent prophets and patriarchs and holy 
men to warn us, and sent His Son, and after they mur- 
dered Him He sent the Holy Ghost. I never knew up 
to that time that God loved us so much. This heai £ of 
mine began to thaw out, and I could not keep back the 



20 S-OVK, 

tears. It was like news from a far country. I just 
drank it in. The next night there was a great crowd, 
for the people like to hear that God loves them. I tell 
you there is one thing that draws above every thing 
else in this world and that is love. A man that has no 
one to love him, no mother, no wife, no children, nc 
brother, no sister, no one to love him, belongs to that 
class who commit suicide; he would go down here and 
jump in the lake. 

Well, there was a great crowd Sunday night, and he 
said, <c My friends, if you will turn in your Bibles to the 
third chapter of John and the sixteenth verse, you will 
find my text," and he preached another extraordinary 
sermon from that wonderful verse, " God so loved the 
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." And he went on proving it again from 
Genesis to Revelation. He could turn to almost any 
part of the Bible and prove it. Well, I thought that 
was better than the other one^ he struck a higher chord 
than ever, and it was sweet to my soul to hear it. The 
next night, pretty hard to get out a crowd in Chicago on 
Monday night, but they came. The women left their 
washing, or if they had washed they came, and they 
brought their Bibles, and he said, "My friends, if you 
will turn to the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of 
John, you will find my text, and again he followed it 
out from Genesis to Revelations to prove that God 
loved us, and he just beat it down into our hearts, and I 
never have doubted it since. I used to preach that God 
was behind the sinner with a double edged sword ready 
to hew him down. I have got done with that, I preach 
now that God is behind him with love, and he is running 
away from the God of love. 

Tuesday night came, and we thought surely he had 



LOVB, 21 

exhausted that text and that he would take another, but 
he said, " If you will turn to the third chapter of John 
and the sixteenth verse, you will find my text." And 
he preached the sixth sermon from that wonderful text 
and that night he struck a higher chord than ever. 
" God so loved the world that He gave His only begot- 
ten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
perish but have" — not going to have when you die, but 
have it right here, now — "eternal life." By that 
time we began to believe it, the whole of us, and we 
never have doubted it since ; and if a man gets up in 
that pulpit and utters that text there is a smile all over 
the church to-day. Although twelve years have rolled 
away; they never have forgotten it. 

The seventh night came and he went into the pulpit. 
Every eye was upon him. All were anxious to know 
what he was going to preach about. He said, " My 
friends, I have been hunting ail day for a new text, but 
I cannot find one as good as the old one; so we will go 
back to the third chapter of John and the sixteenth 
verse," and he preached the seventh sermon from that 
wonderful text. " God so loved the world." I remem- 
ber the closing up of that sermon. Said he: " My 
friends, for a whole week I have been trying to tell you 
how much God loves you, but I cannot do it with this 
poor, stammering tongue. 

" If I could borrow Jacob's ladder and climb up into 
heaven, and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence 02 
the Almighty, if he could tell me how much love the 
Father has for the world, all he could say would be, 
'God so loved the world that He gave His only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
not perish, but have eternal life.' " 

Since then I have been preaching the love of God f 



22 LOVB. 

and I tell you, my friends, God loves you, and He does 
not want you to perish. 

" Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I 
have no pleasure in the death, of the wicked, but that 
the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn 
ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house 
of Israel ! " Drunkard turn ! Turn from your cups ! 
Give them up to-night! Say, " By the grace oi 
God, I will hurl them from me. I will live a sober life." 
The God of love, will if need be, send legions of angels 
to help you to fight your way up into the kingdom of 
God. God has power enough. What we want is the 
power of God in our hearts. But we cannot have a 
God of love, a pure God, a holy God in a heart full of 
vice and crime and sin. We have got to forsake sin, 
and God will turn and have mercy upon us. "He 
brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner 
over me was love." 

There is a story told of a man that left England a 
few years ago and came to thisxountry. He became dissat- 
isfied and went off to Cuba. He had not been in Cuba 
very long before the Cuban war broke out in 1867, and 
he was arrested as a spy. He knew nothing about what 
he was arrested for and could not understand a word oi 
the Spanish language. They, court-martialed him and 
ordered him to be shot, and when it was told to him 
that he was going to be shot as a spy, the man began to 
wake up and sent off to the American and English 
consuls and laid the case before them. He w T as perfectly 
innocent. He could not understand a word of the 
language. The consuls looked into the case and found 
ne was perfectly innocent. They went to the Spanish 
officers and said, " Look here, this man you have ordered 
to be shot is not guilty, he is perfectly innocent." But 
the Spanish officers said, "He has been tried by oui 



LOVE. 23 

5 aw and found guilty; the law must take its course, and 
the man must die." There was no submarine cable then 
and they could not telegraph to their governments. 
They had no time to write and get an answer back. 
The morning came. They brought him out to the 
place of execution. They had a grave dug and they 
put his coffin down beside the grave and the man took 
his seat upon it and they were just pulling the black 
cap over his head. There stood the Spanish soldiers and 
In a few minutes they would receive orders to fire, and 
at that moment who should ride up but the American 
md English consuls, and jumping from the carriage they 
<?an and wrapped the Star Spangled Banner and the 
Jnion Jack around the man, and turning to the Spanish 
officer said, " Fire on these flags if you dare ! " They 
vfid not dare. There were two great governments 
behind those flags. Oh, my friends, what are this 
government and the English government compared with 
the government of heaven! "He brought me to the 
banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." 
Let God wrap around you the banner of heaven 
to-night. Just come under that banner to-night. God 
loves you. God wants to bless you. 

I can imagine some of you say, " Well, if God loves 
me why does He afflict me so ?" He does not chasten 
willingly. I don't think we have had the rod unless we 
have deserved it. I don't think you mothers punish your 
childien unless they deserve it. They may not understand 
it at the time. We may not understand all of God's deal- 
ings, but we will by-and-by. Paul's platform was a 
good one, " And we know that all things work together 
for good to theAi that love God." So God gives us a* 
friction now aixi Jien that we may know that this is ncu 
our abiding pWv. We don't belong down here. W-* 
ire pilgrims a;< trangers journeying over the eaiu^ 



24 LOVE, 

and our citizenship ought to be up there. If W6 are liv- 
ing for God our hearts will be set upon things above, 
and not down here. I had a child taken down some 
time ago with the scarlet fever. I am afraid of that dis- 
ease, and I went to the very best physician I could find 
in Chicago, and when he wrote a prescription I went to 
the best druggist in Chicago. I didn't go to any of the 
clerks; I w T ent to the head man who was a very careful 
man, and I watched him. He took down one bottle and 
then another, and another, and he just poured that medi- 
cine out into a bottle and mixed it all up, and it hap- 
pened to be the very medicine that child needed. Per- 
haps any one of the ingredients alone might have been 
rank poison and killed the child, but ail worked together 
for good. So it is a little affliction here and a little pros- 
perity there, all working together for good to them that 
love God. 

Now, let me say, my friends, if you want that love of 
God in your hearts, all you have to do is to open the 
door and let it shine in. It will shine in as the sun shines 
in a dark room. Let him have full possession of your 
hearts. Some people have an idea they have something 
to do to bring about reconciliation. God is already re- 
conciled. There is not anything for you to do but to be- 
lieve that God is reconciled. 

An Englishman was telling me this story of a father 
that had a wandering son, and you know those only sons 
are very often spoiled. They are humored and petted. 
The result is, their wills are not broken, and if their wills 
are not broken, generally some one's heart is broken. 
This young man had grown up a very head-strong, will- 
ful boy, and he and his father were constantly getting 
into trouble. The mother acted as a mediator between 
them. One day they got into trouble and the father got 
angry and told the son to leave. The son left and said 



LOVE. 25 

ae wou^d f iever come back until his father asked him to 
come barjr, The mother tried to bring about a recon- 
ciliation, She wrote to the boy and plead with him to 
come hor-.e. But in every letter he wrote he said, " I 
never, never will come home until father asks me." She 
worked r/:ch that father to ask him to come home, but 
his proud, stubborn heart said, "No; I will never ask 
him back," For long years that mother tried to bring 
that father and son together. It was their only child. 
But she utterly failed. And when she lay upon her 
dying bed, and the doctors had given her up to die, that 
father, standing by the side of the bed, said to the wife, 
"Is there not anything that I can do for you?" anxious 
to gratify her last wish. " Yes, there is one thing you 
can do ; you can send for my boy. I would like to see 
him before I die, and I would like to see you and him 
reconciled. If you don't love him after I am gone there 
will be no one to look after him." The proud heart re- 
volted. He said, " I can't send for him." " Yes, you 
can if you will." " I will send in your name." " You 
know he will never come for me. If that boy ever 
comes back you must invite him. You know he will 
never yield until you yield." The father could stand it 
no longer, and at last he went down to the office and 
sent a despatch in his own name asking that boy to come 
home. The moment he received it he started for home. 
As he went into the room the mother was sinking rap- 
idly. The father stood by the bedside. He heard the 
door open, and saw it was that boy. Instead of going 
to the door to meet him, and receiving him w r ith open 
arms, he turned and went away to another part of the 
room. The mother took her boy's hand. O, how she 
had longed to press it. She kissed him, and kissed him. 
She then saijd, "Just speak to your father, and it will 
all be over. \ You say the first word." " No," he said. 



26 love. 

" I will never speak to him until he speaks to me," She 
urged, but in vain. Then calling her husband to her 
bedside, she took him in one hand and the boy in the 
other, and that dying mother spent her last moments in 
trying to bring about a reconciliation, but she tailed. 
Neither one of them would speak. At last she sank 
away into the arms of death. The husband looked at 
the wife and he saw she was gone. The boy looked at 
the mother and he saw she was gone. At last the 
father's eye caught the boy's eye, and his heart relented. 
He took that boy to his bosom, and there by that death- 
bed they were reconciled. 

O, sinner, that is not a fair illustration in this respect. 
God is not angry with you, but he sent Christ into the 
world, and he died to reconcile the world. With that 
exception it is as good an illustration of reconciliation as 
you could have. I bring the body of the Son of God, 
and I say, Look at Him wounded, Look at Him dying, 
that you may be reconciled. Wonderful love! Match- 
less love! The world never^saw love like that. Will 
you spurn such love ? Will you trample it under your 
feet? I beg of you to-night be ye reconciled to God. 
Do not sleep until you are reconciled. Let this be the 
night of your reconciliation. " We beseech you, in 
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God*" 



WHERE ART THOU? 



Where art thou? — Gen. iii. 9. 

This was the first question put to man after nis fall, 
It was not said to a congregation like this. There were 
only two in that congregation, the Lord himself was the 
preacher, Satan had been in Eden and had been doing 
his work. Adam had been listening to the lies of Satan, 
and had been tempted and had fallen; and we find God 
coming down that very day to seek him out. And this 
was a call of love; it was a call of grace; it was a call 
of mercy. If God had dealt with him according to his 
deserts he would have hurled him from the face of the 
earth. 

Six thousand years have rolled away since God put 
that question to our parents in Eden, but it is a question 
in my mind if there have been any of Adam's sons and 
daughters that have not heard that question sometimes 
in their lives. It may be in the silent hours of the night, 
it may be while they are busy at work or in the midst of 
their pleasure — at some time the question has come 
stealing home upon them, "Who am I, what am I, and 
where am I going?" It has come rolling along down 
the ages. 

Now, my friends, it is of very little account where 
you and I are in the sight of our neighbors — where we 
are in the sight.of the public. It is of very little accoun* 
what people around us think of us. They will soon go 
away. Their breath is in their nostrils, and God will 
change their countenances and send them away by and 

27 



28 WHERE ART THOU? 

by. But it is vastly more important to know what God 
thinks of us, and where we stand in his sight; and that 
is the question I want to press home upon each one. 
It is a personal question. 

I hope this text will be sent home by the Spirit of God 
to each heart here to-night. I hope the oldest and the 
youngest person in this house will ask the question, 
"Where am I? Who am I? What am I, and where 
am I going? 

Now I am going to divide this audience into three 
classes. I think we will all come under three heads. I 
would like very well if each person would take the por- 
tion that belongs to him. Of course I cannot read your 
hearts. I want to talk to the professed Christians, to 
those who have backslidden, and to those who are 
strangers to the graee of God. I want to ask each one, 
Where art thou? To all in this audience to-night that 
profess to be disciples of Jesus Christ, I would ask, 
Where art thou ? Where is your influence ? Who claims 
you? Think a moment. "You may be a member of 
some church. You go to the communion table. You 
profess to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. But 
where is your influence ? " He that is not for me is against 
me." Is your influence felt for Christ in your business? 
Is your influence felt in the circle in which you move, in 
the fashionable circle, it may be — is your influence felt for 
Christ? Where art thou, O, professed child of God! 

You know, I am one of those that believe we are living 
in the days of sham. It don't mean anything to be a 
Christian now in the estimation of a great many. 

I firmly believe to-day that the world is stumbling 
over us professed Christians. We are so conformed to 
the world that people do not see Christ in us. Many of 
them say that Christianity is a myth, that it is a fable, that 
it is a thing of the past, that it is not true. Do you know 



WHERE ART THOU? 29 

that where one man reads the Bible a hundred read you 
and me? They do not read the Bible — I would to God 
they did. They do not look to your Master and mine, 
but they look to us; and that is what Christ meant when 
he said, "Ye are the salt of the world; ye are the light 
of the world* Ye are my witnesses. I leave you down 
here to testify for me." As I heard some one say the 
other day, " If our Master represents us up in heaven as 
we represent him down here, we would have a very poor 
representative, wouldn't we?" Ah! how we misrepre- 
sent him down here! How unlike Christ we are! Mr. 
Sankey and myself went into a place in this country not 
long ago, and there was a lady there that had a son, and 
she said, " I am not going to have that boy of mine under 
the influence of these meetings." She was a wealthy 
lady, a lady of position. She wanted her boy to move 
in fashionable society, and she was afraid he might be 
converted and taken out of that society. I believe when 
a man is truly born of God he has lost his taste for that 
kind of society. A godless, christiess, fashionable 
world is the thing that the true child of God abominates. 
She said, " I will take him out of town." The day we 
went into town she went out with her only child. We 
were thirty days in that city, and the afternoon we had 
our farewell meeting I missed one of the prominent 
ministers that had stood by my side, and just as I was 
closing up and leaving the building he came and said, M I 
am sorry that I could not be here at your last meeting. 
Mr. Moody. I want you to understand it is no want ol 
interest, but," said he, " I have had a very solemn duty 
to perform." Then he went on and told me that that 
mother who had taken her son out of that city had 
brought him back there that day in his coffin, and he 
had just attended the funeral, and while we were closing 



30 WHERE ART THOU? 

up our work there that mother was there laying awaj 
her only child. And she a professed Christian ! 

My dear friends, do you know that we have a great 
many of those people to-day that profess to be children 
of God and yet stand right in the way of their children 
coming into the kingdom of God? 

A friend of mine was talking to a young man some 
time ago about his soul. The young man turned up his 
nose, and throw up his head, and said, " Christianity is 
all a farce." " Why ? " said my friend, " Are you in 
earnest?" " Yes," said he, "I believe that Christians 
are hypocrites." He knew that he had a mother that 
professed to be a Christian, and he said, " You would 
not call your own mother a hypocrite, would you?" 
"No, sir, I would not; that would sound very disre- 
spectful. But I will say that my mother don't believe 
what she professes. If my mother did, don't you think 
she would talk to me about my soul? My mother never 
got down and prayed with me. If my mother believes 
what she professes don't you think she would be con- 
cerned about my eternal welfare? " I tell you there is 
no reality in it. And that young man had reason to 
think so. 

O! professed child of God, where is your influence in 
your family ? While you are sitting in this building to- 
night, where is your boy? can you tell? Where is that 
daughter of yours? Is she growing up to hate Chris- 
tianity? Is that young man growing up to despise your 
God? If he is, I think the fault lies not with God but 
with ourselves. There is one thing that I have been 
more anxious for than anything else — that my children 
should have confidence in my piety. What we want at 
this present time, I think, is more piety in our homes — 
more of Christ in our daily life. We want to carry 
this blessed religion of Jesus Christ into every day life 
—into our daily walk and conversation. 



WHERE ART THOU? 31 

I saw an account some time ago going through the 
press that made an impression upon my mind, of a father 
that took his little child out one day into the field. 
While he was lying down under a shade tree, the little 
child was picking wild flowers and little blades of grass, 
and carrying them to its father, and saying, in its child- 
like way, " Pretty, pretty." The father fell asleep, and, 
while he slept the little child wandered away. When 
he awoke from his sleep he looked all about him for his 
child, and lifted up his voice and shouted, but all he 
could hear was the echo of his own voice. Going to a 
precipice some ways off he looked down, and there up- 
on the rocks and briars he saw the mangled form of his 
little child. He rushed to it, took up its lifeless corpse, 
pressed it to his heart and accused himself of being the 
murderer of his own child. 

O! how many are sleeping in the church of God to- 
day while their children are falling over worse precipices 
than that! O! let me press the question home upon every 
professed child of God here to-night: In the sight of 
God where are you ? 

But there is another class I want to speak to — that is 
the backslider. Now, I will venture to say in this con- 
gregation there are scores, may be hundreds of men and 
women that once knew the Lord; that were once in fel- 
lowship with Him; once delighted to go to the house ot 
the Lord and sit down at the communion table ; once had a 
family altar; once delighted to be with His people. All 
that is gone now. Perhaps I can tell you how you got 
away from Him. It may be that you were converted 
down here in some little town in this State and identi- 
fied yourself with the church there. You knew every 
one that belonged to the church; they knew you and 
helped you. At last perhaps your business brought you 
to Cleveland, and you were among strangers. You 



32 WHERE ART THOU? 

went into this and that church, and they did not seem 
exactly like the churches in the country. There was no 
one to shake hands with you or take any interest in you ; 
and you began to think you didn't like the Christians 
here in Cleveland. They were not so warm-hearted as 
they were down in the country where you came from* 
You can't find a church like that where you were con- 
verted. The trouble was you went to the churches, but 
didn't make yourself known. You didn't tell them who 
you were, and where you came from. If you had done 
that they would have gathered around you and took 
your hand and given you a warm welcome. You went 
to the public services; no one spoke to you and you 
thought they were very cold. I have always noticed 
when a man is himself cooling off he always thinks 
other people are cooling off likewise. When he is cold 
he thinks every one else is cold. Before you came to 
Cleveland you had a family altar, You prayed to the 
Father to protect you from sin; but the family altar has 
been broken down. O, backslider! I want to ask you 
to-night where art thou? If God should summon you 
into eternity what would become of your children. 

I never saw a man that could give a reason for leav- 
ing the Lord. A backslider is one who has backslidden 
from the Lord. It is not backsliding from the Church, 
because the church don't save us. 

In the second chapter of Jeremiah the prophet is 
pleading with Israel. They had backslidden. They had 
gone away from the God of Moses. They had gone 
away from the God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob. 
They turned away to the gods of the nations around 
them. Here is a prophet raised up by God to plead 
with them and woo them back to the fold they had wan- 
dered from. Now, backslider, listen; this is for you: 
" Thus, saith the Lord, what iniquity have your fathers 



WHERE ART THOU? 33 

found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have 
walked after vanity, and are become vain?" What has 
the Lord done to you? Can you find any iniquity in 
him? He is unchangeable. He has been in all these 
years, the same true and best friend you have had. 
" Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, 
and with your childrens' children will I plead. For my 
people have committed two evils. They have forsaken 
me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out 
cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Can a 
maid forget her ornaments, or a bride attire? Yet my 
people have forgotten me days without number. You 
do not forget those diamond rings. If you lost a dia- 
mond to-night you would be around here to-morrow 
morning early searching for it diligently. Think of 
of your soul. It is worth more than the world. See 
what He tells Jeremiah to tell them : " Go and proclaim 
these words toward the North, and say, Return thou 
backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause 
mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the 
Lord, and I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowl- 
edge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against 
the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the 
strangers under every green tree, and ye have not 
obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O, backsliding 
children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you." 
Think of the Lord Almighty using such an illustration. 
It shows what love he has for the backslider. I want to 
say to the backslider to-night there is one thing you 
haven't lost. You have not lost the love of God; He 
loves you still. You gone so far you have lost the bene- 
fit of it, but He loves you still. The most touching 
most tender and most loving words in Scripture are 
words that ha^e been sent to the backslider. 

O, backslider, hear the voice of the Shepherd this 

Glory 3 



34 WHERE ART THOUf 

night calling to you from the dark mountains of sin, and 
say as the Prodigal did, "I will arise and go to my 
father." You know Peter backslided. He denied the 
Lord, I will tell you what won him back. It was the 
loving look of his Master. It broke his heart when 
Christ turned and looked at him. O, may the tender, 
loving look of Christ fall upon your heart to -night, sin- 
ner, and may you go out and weep bitterly, as Peter 
did. 

Now, if you listen to what I tell you, and carry out 
my instructions, you will never backslide. Treat the Lord 
Jesus Christ as you do any other friend. If you have an 
intimate friend in Cleveland and were going away you 
would not think of going without bidding him good bye. 
Did you ever hear of a backslider bidding the Lord Jesus 
Christ good bye when he went away. Did you ever 
hear of a backslider going into his closet, closing the 
door, and getting down on his knees and saying to the 
Lord Jesus Christ, " I have now been with you these ten 
years ; I have been serving you, but I have got tired of 
the service and want to go back to the world. I am 
craving for the fleshpots of Egypt. I will have to go 
now, Lord Jesus I bid you good bye. Farewell, I am 
never going to call on you again." Did you ever hear 
of a backslider leaving the Lord in that way ? Never. 
You run away. You desert him. There is one peculi- 
arity about the backslider's ditch — you have to get out 
the way you got in. How did you get in? You ran 
away. Now just get out the way you got in. Go into 
your closet and lock the door. " Only acknowledge 
thine iniquity," He says, "Just confess your sins, and He 
is just and faithful to forgive us our sins." 

O, may the backslider be brought home to-night. It 
would be a terrible thing if you should die in your back- 
sliding state*. 



WHKRB ART THOU? 35 

Now to the third class I want to speak. You may 
find a good many flaws in our characters — a great many 
things that are not right. I admit that professed Chris* 
tians are not what they ought to be. I want to ask 
every unsaved man "Where art thou?" As Christ said 
to Peter when he asked the Lord what John should do, 
" What is that to thee. Follow thou me." We do not 
ask you to follow us, If we did you might bring up 
these excuses. We came here to preach Christ. We 
invite you to Him. You cannot find fault with Him. 
For eighteen hundred years the devil and man have 
been trying to find a flaw in Christ's character. Thank 
God, they can't do it. He is a lamb without spot or 
blemish. We do not ask you to-night to follow us, but 
follow Him. 

If the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the 
sinner and the ungodly appear. I want to say to you 
men that are hiding behind the failings of us Christians, 
you have got very poor stuff to feed on. You never 
heard of a soul getting very fat on that kind of food. So 
I want to ask every unsaved woman and every unsaved 
man in this hall to-night, "Where art thou?" Just 
think a little while now. Ask yourself, " Where am I, 
what am I, and where am I going?" 

I am a man in what is called middle life, and the last 
four or five years have been the most solemn years of 
my life* Life does not seem like a fiction now. Life 
seems real to me. I have got up, you might say, on the 
top of a hill, for life is like a man going up hill and 
then down. Three score years and ten is the time allot- 
ted to man. There is one here and there that is living 
on borrowed time. A great many are taken away 
before they get to the top of the hill. Men do not aver- 
age three score and ten. As I look upon this assembly 
to-night I would like to ask every man and woman on 



WHERE ART THO^S 

the top of the hill, or you that have just passed over it, 
as I have, to just pause with me on the top of the hill 
and look around ; forget all about things around you and 
just think, " Where am I in the sight of God.' 5 As we 
stand on the top of the hill of life let us look back on the 
cradle from whence we came; let us look down the hill 
of life. Perhaps, as you look down part way, you will 
see a grave. The grass is growing upon it to-night. It 
may be that some flowers have been planted on that 
grave. It marks the last resting place of a loved mother, 
Let your mind go back to the night you bid her farewell. 
It was perhaps at the midnight hour that she called you 
to her bedside, and then she took you by the hand, and that 
night you promised you would meet her in the king- 
dom of God. You told her you would be a Christian 
and follow her into that land where she was going. 

I would like to know how many in this audience, 
to-night, have made vows. Won't you, to-night, pay 
your vows? Long years have rolled away since you 
made that promise. You promised yourself you would 
settle the question then, but you did not. Then you 
said, « Well, I will do it a little further on." That time 
has come again, and you have not done it. 

I may be talking to some that made a promise in their 
childhood that they would become Christians. Child- 
hood is gone and you are now not only in manhood, but 
you are passing over that hill. A sermon that would 
move you to tears ten years ago makes no impression on 
you now. Time has rolled on. Here and there you see 
a gray hair in your head. Your eyes are growing dim. 
Come back with me, my friend, and as we look down 
the hill again we may see a little short grave. It marks 
the resting place of a loved child. The night death 
came into your home and took away that child, don't you 
remember that then vou made a vow that you would 



WHERE ART THOU? 37 

see your child again in the kingdom of God. Oh! my 
dear friend, won't you to-night make good that promise 
before \ou sleep, and let the news go up on high that 
you are coming up there. 

Last night a fine looking young man came upon this 
platform. He had been a skeptic, He was inclined to 
believe that the Bible was a myth. But he had a godly 
sister who believed in that book. She used to pray for 
him. A few days ago that sister died. Then his infidel- 
ity did not comfort him. Ah! how cold infidelity is in 
the time of affliction, when we stand by the open grave 
of a loved friend, Ah ! atheism don't comfort us then ! 
Infidelity don't comfort us then! 

That young man wants something besides skepticism 
now. He wants something besides cold, hard infidelity 
now. That loving sister has passed within the vale. 
He wants to go and meet her. He has stood by that 
grave, and dropped tears upon it. While I am standing 
in this house talking I will venture to say his mind is 
upon that sister, and he says, " I want to meet her.'' 
Well, young man, you can. Christ says, " I go to pre- 
pare a mansion." He is up there fitting up the mansions 
and by and by you shall meet the loved one with the 
Master and be forever with Him. Thank God for the 
glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. It is downright mad- 
ness, it is the height of folly for a man to turn a deaf ear 
to the gospel of the Son of God. Come again and stand 
on top of this hill and look down on the grave. It is 
very short after all, from the cradle to the grave. Look 
down the hill of life to-night. It may be that the shroud 
is already woven that shall be wrapped around these 
bodies. It may.be the coffin is already made that you 
and I shall be laid in. It may be that while I am talking 
here to-night death may be on your track-— we know it 
is on the track of each one of us ? and it may be a good 



38 WHERE ART THOU t 

deal nearer than you think; and the time may come a 
great deal sooner than you expect that you shall be cut 
down; and if you die without God, without hope, what 
excuse will you have? Here you are in a Christian land 
where you hear the gospel preached. You are invited 
to come to the gospel feast. Here is another invitation. 
What will you do with it? Oh! my friends, to-night be 
wise and accept of salvation as a gift from Him who 
came into the world to bring life and immortality and 
light. 

When I was in England in 1867, there was a young 
French nobleman came to consult Dr. Fox Winslow, 
that celebrated Doctor that had a great deal of exper- 
ience and practice with the human mind. He brought 
letters from the French Emperor, Napoleon III. and the 
great leading men in Paris, asking the Doctor to do ail 
he could to save the man's reason. When the Doctor 
examined him he found the man was troubled about 
something — had great trouble that was weighing upon 
his mind, and he went to work to find out the cause. 
He says, "Can you tell me what is weighing upon your 
mind? What is the trouble?" The young nobleman 
said that he could not tell. " Well," says the Doctor, 
" I must first find out the cause of this disease, before I can 
do any thing." Says he, "Have you lost any friends." 
"No sir, none lately." " Have you lost any property." 
" No sir." " Have you lost any reputation or standing in 
your country." "No sir." "Well, sir I want to have you 
tell me what it is that is weighing upon your mind? " The 
young nobleman hung his head as if he was ashamed 
to tell, and at last he says, " Well, Doctor, my fathei 
was an infidel, and my grandfather was an infidel and I 
have been brought up an infidel, and for the last two 
years this question has haunted me day and night: 
u Eternity, and where shall I spend it? I try to get 



WHERE ART THOU? 39 

to sleep at night and if I sleep an hour or two and I 
wake up that question comes up to me — 'Eternity and 
where shall I spend it.' " " Well," the Doctor says, 
" You have come to the wrong physician." The young 
nobleman sprung to his feet and says, " Doctor, is there 
no help for me? Have I got to be haunted day and night 
with this question? Can't you help me?" The Doctor 
says, " I cannot help you, but I can tell you of a physi- 
cian who can;" and the doctor went on to tell his own 
experience; he said that he was once an infidel and had 
been blessed by reading the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, 
and he commenced to read that wonderful chapter, " He 
was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for 
our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon 
Him; and with His stripes we are healed." He gave 
Him the remedy for sin. He held up a crucified Savior 
and the young nobleman said, " Doctor, do you really 
believe that Jesus Christ was in heaven and that he 
voluntarily left heaven and came down here and suffered 
and died for this world ? " " Yes," says the doctor " I 
believe it, and by believing that I got rid of my infidelity, 
and by believing that I got rid of my sins." Says he, 
" and I have no doubt about where I am going to spend 
eternity. It is all clear in my mind." " Well," says the 
nobleman, "if that is true, I ought to believe it." 
" Well," says the doctor, I don't want you to believe it 
unless it is true. There is a way of finding out whether 
it is true or not. Let us get down and ask the God that 
created us, to teach us if it is true." And down the 
doctor went and he prayed for the nobleman, and he 
asked the nobleman to pray for himself. He went back 
to the doctor day after day for about ten days or two 
weeks, and then went back to Paris as a Christian man, 
and when I was there in 1867, he was writing \ -ick to 



4:0 WHKRB ART THOU? 

the doctor as one Christian writes to another. He had 
got that question settled. 

Young man, I would like to ask you to-night where 
will you spend eternity? That is the question to- 
night. We are free agents. God allows us to 
choose. He has set before you life and death 
He set before you a blessing and a curse, and it 
is for you to choose. Where will you spend eternity ? 
Will you spend it with Christ in yonder world of light? 
Will you spend it in those mansions He has gone to pre- 
pare for you, with that sainted, godly mother, with that 
praying, godly wife ? Will you spend it with that lovely 
child that has gone on high? Ah, my friends, it is in 
your power. You can settle this question to-night; or 
will you be banished from God and heaven? I wan't 
to give you one word that the Son Jesus said, " If ye die 
in your sins, where I am ye cannot come." Away 
with this doctrine that a man is going into heaven with 
all the sins of life upon him, a man that is polluted with 
sin — a man that has fought against God all his life. Why, 
heaven would be hell to him. 

Yes, my friends, if you ever see that kingdom you 
must believe on His Son. Say, skeptic, what ar* you 
going to do? Are you going on in your infidelity f Are 
you going to hold on to unbelief and die in your 
sins* and be banished from God and from heaven? or 
will you this night believe on the Lord Jesus C h **& and 
be saved? 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 



What think ye of Christ? — Matt. xxii. 42. 

I would like, if possible, just to hold your attention 
right to that one question for a little while, forgetting 
everything else. It is not what you think of the Riblfc, 
It is not what you think of this denomination or that de- 
nomination. It is not what you think of the church. Il 
is not what you think of this preacher or that preacher 
but "What think ye of Christ?" 

I would like to have time to take Him up to-night as 
a_£ea£her; the most wonderful teacher that ever came 
into this world. No man taught as He did. He did not 
teach like like the Scribes and Pharisees. He taught as 
one who had authority. But that is not the object to-night. 

I would like to have time to take Him up as a preacher, 
You talk about your great preachers, but this world 
never saw such a preacher as He was. He stood at the 
head of the list. There never has been, there never will 
be, another one like Him. Very often ministers preach 
their opinions. He taught no opinions. He taught the 
truth, and it was so deep that the greatest theologians 
have not yet been able to fathom the depths of His 
teaching; and yet they were so simple and so beautiful 
that the little children understood them, and they liked 
to hear Him. In fact, there is not a book in the world 
now that will interest the children like the Bible. If 
you want a book that is full of beautiful stories for the 
children, that is the book. 

And He had a facultv of teaching and preaching the 

41 



42 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

truth so that men could not forget it There is not ft 
prodigal on the face of this continent, in my opinion, 
that is not familiar with the fifteenth chapter of Luke, 
He drew that picture so vivid and so clear that men can- 
not forget it. They know about that younger son; they 
know about that far country, I seldom talk with a prod- 
igal that he don't refer to it. We can never forget that 
story of the Good Samaritan. It kind of hooks into 
your memory. You can't get it out if you try. 

I am told by Eastern travelers 'who have been through 
Palestine, that there is not a solitary thing you can see 
there but that the Lord used it as an illustration — hung 
the truth right about it. The first parable that he uttered 
was that of the sower. I can imagine that, as He was 
teaching there upon the hillside, He looked down, and 
upon the bank of that lake was a sower going forth in 
the spring to sow, and He said, "behold a sower!" and He 
drew a lesson there that you cannot forget. There are 
four kinds of hearers. We have had them here in Cleve- 
land for the last four weeks, and they will remain till the 
end of the time. There are the wayside, the stony 
ground, the thorny ground, and the good ground hearers. 
Would to God there were more good ground hearers, 
that should bring forth thirty, sixty and a hundred fold. 
Those four kinds of hearers will remain. He taught the 
truth. Men cannot get around it. They may say there 
are not four kinds of hearers, but that don't make it so; 
and any man that talks much to the public and mingles 
with them will find those kinds of hearers. Many a 
man has been in this tabernacle, and the devil has been 
outside and caught the seed away before he could get 
home, and before he could cross the street. He thought 
when he left the tabernacle that he would step over and 
let some one talk with hi*n* Before he got over there 
the devil caught him* 



WHAT THINK YI OF CHRIST? 

I would like to talk to you about Him as a physician. 
Why, they say they have got some wonderful physicians 
in New York, in London and in Paris. Their fame is 
known throughout all the country. But did you ever 
hear of a doctor that never lost a case ? They say you 
have some very fine doctors here in Cleveland, but have 
you get one that never lost a case ? He never lost a case. 
He had some pretty difficult cases, but He was a match 
for every case that came. Even if they were dead when 
He got there they lived. He never preached any funeral 
sermons. A dead body would come to life when He 
came. 

I would like to have time to take Him up as a Com 
ferter. As some one has said, he wiped away more 
tears in one day than all the infidels in eighteen hundred 
years. He has bound up more aching hearts, He has 
comforted more people, than all the infidels put together 
have ever done. He came for that purpose. " He sent 
me," He says, " to heal the broken-hearted." That is 
what He came for. 

I have not come here to-night to take Him up as a 
Prophet; not to speak to you about Him as a Priest, or 
as a King. I have not come here to talk to you about 
Him as a Preacher and a Teacher, or as a Physician, or 
as a Comforter. That is not the point to-night, I have 
got another point in view, and the point I want to cal 
your attention to is this. Who was He? Was He what 
He claimed to be or not? 

Now, I am one of those that contend that Jesus Christ 
was either God-man— He was both human and divine — 
or else He was a great imposter, and He passed Himself ofl 
to be more than He was. Now, you and I have great 
contempt for a man that is assuming to be more than he 
is. If a man tries to make you believe that he is a 



44 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST/ 

greater man than he is, he goes right down in your 
estimation at once. 

Now, to-night I want to ask you to settle this question 
in your minds: Was he God-man? Was He with 
God the Father before the world existed ? He said He 
was. Before the world existed He existed — before 
the morning stars sang together. " Before Abraham 
was I am." Now, it is a very important question. It is 
one of the most important questions that can come before 
us down here in this world. We will not know how 
to treat Christ if we have not made up our minds who 
and what he is. I was talking to a man not many hours 
ago, and he said it made no difference what he thought 
of Jesus Christ. I was pressing that point upon him. 
It makes all the difference in the world what we think 
of Him. It is of very little account what you think of 
General Grant. It is of very little account what you 
think of the public men of this country to-day. It is of 
very little account what you think of Queen Victoria. 
It is of very little accourit what you think of the 
Emperors and rulers of other nations. It is of little 
account what we think of other men in comparison with 
what we think of Jesus Christ. This is the question; 
and I believe it is a proper question. I think I have a 
right as as a preacher of the Gospel to press this ques- 
tion home upon my audience; and I want those young 
men up in the gallery, I want every person in the 
house to-night, just to put the question home to himself. 
" What do I think of Christ? What is my opinion of 
Him ? " We are very free to express our opinion about 
public men. There is hardly a person in this house 
that has not made up his mind about the public men of 
this nation. Jesus Christ is a public character, and we 
have a right to ask you what you think of him. There 
has be^u ruore written and more said about Jesus of 



WHAT THINK Y3 OF CHRIST? 45 

Nazareth in your day and mine than of any hundrec 
men that ever lived; and it is time for us to make uj 
our minds what we think of Him. Was He an impostor 
Was He what the Jews claimed Him to be — a deceivei 
and a fraud? Or was He God-man? . 

I am thoroughly convinced that men have got to take 
one side or the other. This idea that Jesus Christ was a 
very good man, as some people tell us, but He was only 
man, is false. It seems to me you could not utter a 
greater falsehood than that. If Jesus Christ was mere 
man, then he has been guilty of one of the worst sins in the 
whole Bible. All through the Bible God has said, 
< 4 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Christ 
comes and says, " Come unto Me all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He invites 
the world to come to Him. Not only that, but He tells 
us that we cannot come to the Father except through 
Him and by Him. " I am the way." " I am the 
truth." " I am the life." " I am the resurrection and 
the life." That is what he says. Now, if that is not 
true, then he was an impostor, and if He was an 
impostor, the Jews ought to have put him to death. 
By their Jewish law they were obliged to put him 
to death; and we either ought to ratify the act of 
Calvary and say they did right, or else we ought to 
come out and own Him as our Lord and our Master. 

But to-night I am going to ask you all to imagine that 
you are on a jury. Perhaps some of you ladies will say, 
u I never was in a jury box in my life." I suppose you 
never were, and perhaps there are a good many men here 
that never were in a court on a jury; but to-night I 
would like, to have every one of you just keep awake and 
keep your mind right on the case we have before us. 
Let us examine a few witnesses and make up our minds 
on their testimony. If a man has a case in court he 



46 WHAT THINK YK OF CHfciST? 

brings in the witnesses. Both sides are brought in, and 
after they have heard the testimony on both sides, the 
jury make up their minds. 

Now, to-night I want to call in the witnesses, and we 
will just imagine .that this is the witness box right here. 
Now, you know the worst enemies that Jesus Christ had 
while he was down there were the Pharisees and the Sad- 
ucees. They were constantly trying to entangle Him. 
They were constantly trying to find something against 
Him that they might put Him to death. They made 
one attack after another and they failed. The most seri- 
ous charge they could bring against Him was this : "This 
man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." That is 
what we glory in. It is a good thing he does. That 
takes us in. 

But we will not take the public. We will just take 
up the individuals. Now, Caiaphas was president of the 
highest ecclesiastical court of that day. There was no 
higher tribunal. He really sat in the place of Aaron. 
Jesus Christ was brought before Caiaphas. It was Cai- 
aphas that gave sentence of death. It was he that gave 
orders that Christ should be crucified. Now, suppose to- 
night we could bring that priest in here with his flowing 
robes upon him. Let him stand here, and let us ask him 
what he found against Jesus Christ. Let us ask him 
what Christ was guilty of, and let us hear what he says. 
He it was that put Jesus Christ under oath. You know 
if a man goes into court now, they make him hold up 
his right hand and solemnly swear that he will tell the 
truth the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, he 
put Christ under oath. After the witnesses had come in 
and testified, then he put Him under oath. "I adjure 
thee, by the living God, tell us plainly, art thou the 
Christ, the Son of the Blessed?' 5 Christ said, " I am, 
%ad ye shall see me at the right hand of God, axhd com* 



WHAT THINK YK OF CHRIST? 47 

ing in the clouds of heaven." What further testimony 
do we want?" says Caiaphas. "We have heard blas- 
phemy from His own lips." And he took his mantle 
and rent it, and said to the Sanhedrim, " What think 
ye?" And they said, "He is guilty of death." If Jesus 
Christ was not God-man, then they ought to have put 
Him to death, because there in that council he said, " I 
am," when the question was put to Him, and He was 
under oath. It was that very thing that caused Him to 
be put to death. It was His own testimony. He bore 
testimony to that very point — that He was God-man; 
that he had come from heaven, and they should see Him 
at the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of 
heaven. 

But we have a good many witnesses to examine, and 
I will have to pass on. The next witness we want to 
bring into court is Pilate. Pilate was no Jew. He was 
prejudiced really against the Jews. He was put there 
by the Roman Government to keep peace in that city. 
Now let us bring Pilate in here and examine him. The 
Jews brought Jesus before Pilate and Pilate examined 
Him. And now hear what Pilate had to say after exam- 
ining Him and talking with Him. This is his testi- 
mony: "I find no fault in Him." If there could have 
been a flaw found in His character, do you think the 
Jews would not have found Him out and told Pilate? 
Do you think that Pilate would not have found it out in 
that blood-thirsty city? If there had been something 
wrong in His character; if He had been a fraud; if He 
had been a deceiver, do you think they would not have 
found it out? " I find no fault in this man. I will chas- 
tise Him and let Him go." " If you let Him go, you are 
not Caesar's friend." Poor, vacillating Pilate. He did 
not have the moral stamina to live up to his conscience. 



48 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

He sent Him away to Herod, and Herod could find n* 
fault in Him. 

But we have another witness — a lady. We will bring 
in Pilate's wife. We have her testimony on record. She 
sent word to her husband, and this was her testimony : 
44 Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have 
suffered many things this day in a dream because of 
Him." People talk against Pilate now, but there have 
been a good deal worse than Pilate right here in Cleve- 
land. They can find fault with Jesus Christ, but Pilate, 
that heathen Governor, could find no fault with him. Pi- 
late's wife could find no fault with Him. 

But here is another witness. Now, you know, Judas 
knew a good deal more about Jesus Christ than these 
witnesses that we have had in the witness box. Judas 
knew a good deal more about Jesus Christ than Caiaphas 
did. Perhaps Caiaphas never met him but once, and 
that on that memorable night when he was on trial. 
Pilate probably had never met him until he was brought 
before him. Pilate's wife perhaps never had seen him. 
But Judas had been with him for three years. He had 
heard those wonderful sermons. He had heard those 
wonderful parables uttered by Him. He had seen Him 
perform those mighty miracles. He was with Him 
when Lazarus came forth. He was with Him on all 
occasions nearly when he performed those wondetful 
miracles. Now let Judas come in. He has sold him for 
thirty pieces of silver. If there is anything against Christ 
he will certainly know it. Look at him! Look at the 
remorse! Look at the despair that has settled upon his 
countenance. Let him step into the witness box. "Come, 
now, Judas, tell us what think you of Christ? You have 
been with him for three years; you have been associated 
with him ; you have been the treasurer of that little band. 
What think you of Christ?" Hear him, as he throws 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 49 

down those thirty pieces of silver, " I have betrayed in- 
nocent blood." Even the very prince of traitors knew 
that Christ was innocent. That is what Judas thought 
of him. Men sit in judgment on Judas now; but how 
many men will say that Christ was not what he claimed 
to be. Judas knew it. "I have betrayed innocent 
blood." That is his testimony. 

It is a very singular thing that every man that had 
anything to do with the death of Jesus Christ left his 
testimony. God made every one of them testify that His 
Son was innocent. Not one of them was permitted to 
speak against that Son. Their testimony has been put 
on record, and preserved and handed down to the present 
time. 

Now, you know, if there is a criminal in this county 
that is to be executed, the sheriff has charge of the exe- 
cution. The next witness we want to bring in is not a 
man that bore the name of sheriff, but really the man 
that held the same position that day — the centurion who 
had charge of the execution. He was there at Calvary, 
and it was he that gave orders that those nails should be 
driven into His hands and His feet. It was he that gave 
orders that those soldiers should take that cross up and 
let it fall into that hole that had been dug. 

Now, let the centurion be brought in here. Let him 
stand here in the witness box. " Come, now, centurion, 
you had charge of that execution. You saw Jesus nailed 
to the cross. You saw Him hanging between heaven 
and earth. What think you of that person? What think 
you of Jesus of Nazareth? 5 ' "Truly this was the Son 
God." That is what he says. He was convinced right 
then and there.^ That is what the sheriff said. Never 
was there such a scene on earth as that witnessed there 
at the cross, when Jesus cried with a loud voice, " It is 
finished," and heaven took up the cry, and the rocks 

Glory 4 



50 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

were rent, and the earth shook. This earth knew ith 
Creator, although man did not, and the centurion was 
obliged to say, " Truly, this was the Son of God." 

But I have other witnesses. Do you know the testi- 
mony of the devils is on record ? They bear testimony. 
It has been put on record and it has been kept on record 
for us. " Thou Son of the most high God, hast Thou 
come here to torment us before our time?" Even the 
very devils knew Him. And yet men dont't know Him ; 
yet men don't think well of Him; and there are men 
going up and down this nation talking against this Jesus, 
with all this testimony on record. 

Now, these were not friends of Jesus. These wit- 
nesses that we have been examining were men that lifted 
up their voices against Him. They were the bitterest 
enemies that He had. 

But now we will bring in his friends. You know, if 
you want to get the truth of a case you want to hear 
both sides. We have heard the side of the enemies of 
Christ; and we have tried to" be fair. We have brought 
in all their testimony that we can find. We challenge 
any skeptic or infidel to bring in any more testimony. 
Bring in your witnesses. Let them come and testify 
against the Son of God, if you can find them. 

" There was a man sent from God." That is the way 
it begins. I like that. He was sent to introduce this 
Christ. He was no fanatic, and he was not biased by 
the world. The world had no power over him. Flat- 
tery did not have any weight with him. Position did 
not have any weight with him. If he had been living 
now you would not find him up here on your fine 
avenues. He was one of the poorest of the poor. His 
food was that of locusts and wild honey. He did not 
wear a broadcloth coat. His coat was made o f camel's 
skin, and he wore a leather girdle. But he came out on 



WHAT THINK YS OF CHRIST? %\ 

the banks of the Jordan and began to cry to that nation, 
" Repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! " 
And the nation began to be moved. Strange rumors 
went from town to town about this wonderful wilderness 
preacher, and thousands began to crowd to the banks of 
the Jordan to see him. What must have thrilled the 
audiences was that he said that he was just the forerun- 
ner of a coming One. One whose shoes' latchet he was 
unworthy to unloose. He was just the herald of a com- 
ing One. At last Jesus of Nazareth, the village carpen- 
ter, came down to the banks of the Jordan, and when 
John saw him he seemed to quail before him. He drew 
back and refused to baptize him. But the Lord com- 
manded him, and he knew nothing but obedience — he 
did what the Lord told him to; and from that hour John, 
that mighty preacher, changed his text, and he had but 
one text after that: "Behold the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the world!" That was his cry. 
That is w r hat he thought of Him. John was just a mere 
guide-post, pointing toward Him. He turned his disci- 
ples away from himself, and turned them toward this 
Galilean Prophet "Behold the Lamb of God!" In 
another place he says, " I bear record this is the Son of 
God." " I must decrease, but He must increase." He 
began to preach down himself and preach up this won- 
derful Christ. I would take a long time to tell you 
what John thought of Him. I cannot examine this wit- 
ness as I would like to. It would take ail night. I am 
afraid you would get weary. 

We will pass over and take up another. Bring in 
Peter. We could not have a better witness, perhaps 
than Peter. Peter denied Him. Put Peter in the wit- 
ness box, and say, " Well, Peter, you once denied this 
Christ and said you did not know Him. You swore 
that you never knew Him. Was that so s Peter?" I 



52 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

can see the tears trickling down his cheeks. " That h 
the greatest lie I ever told in my life. Know Him! 1 
think I do know Him." "What do you think of Him? 
What is your opinion of this Christ?" "God hath 
made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord 
and Christ." That is what he thought of Him. As he 
stood there on the day of Pentecost that was his 
testimony. 

One day Christ seemed to be just hungering and 
thirsting for some one to confess Him, and he said to his 
disciples around him : " Who do men say that I, the Son 
of Man, am?" "Some say you are Moses; some say 
you are Jeremiah; some say this prophet, some that 
prophet." "But who do you say I am?" "Thou 
art the Son of the living God," says Peter. 
"Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; flesh and blood 
never revealed that unto thee." Peter knew him. 
So when he preached on the day of Pentecost, he called 
Him the Christ. " God hath made that same Jesus, 
whom ye have crucified, " both Lord and Christ." 
"There is none other name under heaven given among 
men, whereby we must be saved." 

But let us call in that thief now. He was a notorious 
character. They punished only the most notable crim- 
inals by the death of the cross. That thief is a good 
witness. Let us bring him in. We are told by Mat- 
thew and Mark that those two thieves, when they went 
out that morning, from the prison to the cross, went out 
reviling, and when the crowd began to mock Christ, it 
says the two thieves also " cast it in his teeth." They, 
too, mocked. But all at once a strange thing takes place 
there. The heart of one of these thieves seemed to be 
touched. I don't know what touched him, but I can 
imagine it was Christ's prayer, "Father; forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." That thief says, 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 53 

"He has a different spirit from what I have. He must 
be more than human. That must be the cry of the 
God-man." He seems to have been convicted light there. 
Hear what he says: "We indeed suffer justly, but this 
man hath done nothing amiss." That is what the thief 
thought of him. 

But here is Thomas. Thomas has a good many rep- 
resentatives to-day. He has a good many descendants 
living here in Cleveland. Thomas belonged to the 
doubting school. There are a great many people like 
Thomas. They doubt what they cannot see. They 
can't take things by faith. After the Lord had arisen, 
Thomas, like a good many people now, did not believe 
He had arisen, and I will venture to say Thomas was 
the most unhappy man in Jerusalem the first week after 
Christ came out of the sepulchre. That first Sunday, 
when he appeared to his disciples, Thomas was not 
there. They had a little prayer meeting, and he was 
missing. Perhaps he thought the whole thing was over, 
and that they would never hear of him again — that he 
would never rise from Joseph's sepulchre. But I can 
imagine Monday morning, as Thomas goes walking 
down the street, whom should he meet but John. 
John says: "Thomas, have you heard the news?" 
"What news?" "The Lord is risen." " O," says he, 
" I don't believe that. His spirit may have arisen, but 
his body is not." " O, yes, His body is. Why, I saw 
Him last night, and I talked with Him." " O, no, you 
must be mistaken; it must have been a vision." "No, it 
was the identical Jesus; I talked with Him." "O, I 
can't believe that." 

Thomas starts^ down the street, and has not got more 
than half a block before he meets Peter, and Peter says, 
"Thomas, the Lord has risen indeed." "Oh, no, John 
just told me back here He had risen, but I don't believe 



54r> WHAT THINK YE OP CHRIST f 

a word of it." "Well," says Peter, "but I had an inter- 
view with Him. He has forgiven me all my backslid- 
ings." "Oh, well, you just imagine you saw Him. You 
must be mistaken. I don't believe He is risen at all.'' 
"Well, but we went to the sepulchre, and it is empty. 
And there were two angels there and they said, 'Come 
and see the place where the Lord lay,' and they said He 
had risen, and then afterwards we saw Him." "Oh, well, 
I couldn't believe that I couldn't believe it unless I shall 
see the prints of the nails in His hands, and put my fin- 
gers in them, and thrust my hand into His side." Before 
the week is over he has met more than a dozen who have 
seen Christ, but he will not believe them. 

The church is full of Thomases to-day. They stay 
away from the prayer-meeting, where Christ meets His 
disciples, and they go out into the world and live among 
skeptics and infidels so much that they doubt every- 
thing from one end of the Bible to the other. 

But the next Sabbath came, and Thomas was there 
that day; and while they were talking, and perhaps try- 
ing to convince Thomas that the Lord had risen, who 
should stand there but the Lord of Glory, and He says, 
"Thomas, reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my 
side, and put thy finger into these wounds." And 
Thomas cries out, "My Lord and my God!" That is 
what he thought of Him. He owned Him as his Lord 
and his God. 

Oh, may God scatter our unbelief to-rdght, and may 
we say like Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" I don't 
want any other Lord but Jesus Christ I don't want 
any other master but Jesus Christ 

Oh, this miserable unbelief that is keeping back God's 
blessing from this world! Let us say with Thomas to- 
night, "My Lord and my God." That is what Thomas 
thought of Him. His unbelief is gone now. He never 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST* 55 

doubted from that moment that the Lord had come up 
out of the sepulchre. 

But here is another witness. Ah, what a witness we 
have in John! He was a little nearer the heart of the 
Savior than any of the rest. He is that lovable disciple 
that laid his head upon the bosom of the Son of God. 
He heard the throbbing of that heart. 

How He loved him. It would take all night to exam- 
ine John, the belored disciple. Oh, how much he 
thought of Him! In the sight of John, He was the Lily 
of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the Root 
and Offspring of David. John says He was the Light 
of the world. He says He was the Life of the world. 
He says He was the Resurrection and the Life. It 
would take a good while to go through John. We 
would have to go all through this gospel, then through 
the Epistles, and then through Revelation to find out 
what John thought of Jesus. Yes, he thought a good 
deal of Him. If you want to get a good idea of Jesus, 
read what John wrote, you need not get any of these 
infidel books. Read John. John was with Him all 
through His ministry. You could not have a better wit- 
ness than John — that Galilean fisherman. 

Here is another witness, and this witness ought to 
convince every skeptic. When I was in Baltimore, there 
was an atheist persuaded to come into the meeting by 
some friend. Said he, "just come in. I would like to 
have you come in. Of course you don't believe any- 
thing that is said, but just come in and see the audience." 
I happened to be preaching that night on this very sub- 
ject, "What think ye of Christ?" 

That atheist began to listen when I began to talk 
about Saul. "Now," said he, "I would like to hear what 
Saul has to say, because there was a time when Saul did 
not believe in Hirn« There was a time when Saul was 



58 WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST f 

His bitterest enemy; and I would like to hear what that 
witness has to say." And he listened, and, thank God, 
he was convicted and converted, and I correspond with 
him now. He is one of the brightest lights in the whole 
city of Baltimore. I hope there will be some atheist 
converted here to-night. 

Now, let us hear what this little tent maker of Tarsus 
has to say: " Paul, what think you of Christ?" Hear 
what he says: "I count all things but dung that I may 
win Christ." What did he care for this world? The 
fashion of it passes away. He had his eye fixed upon 
the Man on Calvary. He left the city of Jerusalem, 
where he was brought up, and where he held a high 
office. He left Gamaliel, and the whole of them, and he 
says, " The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by 
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave 
Himself for me. Who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ? . I am persuaded that neither d^ath, 

nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers^ nor 
things present, nor things" to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our 
Lord." 

Yes, that little tent maker thought a good deal of 
Himl The moment he got a glimpse of the Man who 
died on Calvary his heart was taken captive. From the 
time Christ met him at Damascus until he met his death 
at Rome, he was all in all for Christ. Every hair in his 
head was true for Christ. Every drop of his blood was 
for Jesus Christ. Every time his pulse beat, it beat true 
to the Man that is at the right hand of God. If you 
want to find out what Paul thought of Him, read some 
of his epistles. He thought every thing of Him. He 
thought nothing of himself. He had a good opinion of 
himself till he met Christ; but Christ was so much bet 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST f 57 

ter than he was, that he sank down and was nothing. 
When a man sees Jesus Christ, he will have something 
then to feed upon. He will not think what a great man 
he is. He will think what a mean, contemptible wretch 
he is in comparison with the Man that is at the right 
hand of God. 

Well, I have other witnesses. There are a good many 
that would like to come and testify. This Bible is full 
of them. I might call up Zaccheus of Jericho. He could 
tell you a good deal about Christ. I might call up Mary 
Magdalena. She could tell you some wonderful stories 
about Jesus. I might call up Martha and Mary of 
Bethany, and their brother Lazarus. I would like to 
call up that man he met over there among the Gad- 
arenes, out of whom he cast legions of devils. But we 
have not time to examine these witnesses. I think we 
have examined enough, haven't we? Isn't the jury sat- 
isfied that He was more than man; that he was God 
manifest in the flesh; that He was all He claimed to be? 

But if you will pardon me, I would like to call your 
attention to this: We have something besides men. The 
angels were once, and only once, permitted to bear wit- 
ness. A friend was telling me to-night that the angels 
have not the privilege of working that you and I have. 
Gabriel has not the privilege of coming down here and 
saving a soul to Christ. When Cornelius wanted to 
know the way of life, the angel had to tell him to send 
to Joppa, thirty miles away, and get Peter. But the an- 
gels had a chance once to tell what they thought of Jesus 
Christ. Those shepherds were, perhaps, half asleep 
there on the plains of Bethlehem, when all at once there 
came down a heavenly host all around, and the shep- 
herds began to rub their eyes and look up. What a 
strain it must have been! What was it? "Behold, I 
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

people. For unto you is born this day in the city oi 
David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." That is 
what they thought of Him. " A Savior." And then 
there was a great company — I don't know but the whole 
choir of heaven was down here right out on those plains, 
and they bnrst out, " Glory to God in the highest, and 
on earth peace, good will toward men." Blessed gospel, 
my friendsl Good tidings! Who will believe it to- 
night? Unto you—every soul in this house — unto you 
is born this day in the city of David a Savior. And now 
the question is, What will you do with Him? 

John, you know, says he was caught up once, and he 
heard a loud voice in heaven. It was a voice like the 
voice of many waters. It was " the voice of many an- 
gels round about the throne. The number of them was 
ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands, and they cried, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain 
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing." That is what they 
think of Him up there. 

Oh, let earth join with heaven to-night! Let all in 
this assembly join with that crowd around the throne, 
and let us say, " Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain from the foundation of the world!" Oh, poor, vile 
sinner, come out from the world and join the hallelujahs 
of heaven to-night, and let us all shout together, 
"Worthy, worthy is the Lamb!" Isn't he worthy? 
What do you ministers of the Cross say? Isn't he 
worthy? Let us up and publish it! Let us out and 
tell the world of Him! The devil has been deceiving 
the world. The world does not know this Christ. 
And who shall publish Him if we don't? The world 
is perishing for the want of Jesus Christ. Let us gfo out 
into the world and tell it out. 

Now, God forbid that I should speak in any careless 



WHAT THINK YS OF CHRIST? 59 

or any flippant way, but with all reverence let me say that 
there is one more witness that I want to bring in here 
to-night, and that is God the Father. As John stood on 
the banks of Jordan — and I can imagine there was an 
audience twice the size of this audience gathered around 
that wonderi\tl preacher there on those banks, and he 
just held them breathless — when Jesus came forward and 
^'&5 baptized, as he came up out of that water there was 
a voice heard. Bible students tell us that the Jehovah 
of the old testament is the Christ of the new, and it is 
supposed by the best Bible students that for four thou- 
sand years, God the Father never broke the silence. 
From the time that Adam fell from the summit of Eden 
until Christ came at Jordan, God the Father had not 
broken the silence. But it is written in the book that 
He came to do God's will, and the moment he began his 
ministry God broke the silence of four thousand years, 
As Jesus came up out of the water a voice was heard 
saying, " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well 
pleased." Oh, if God is well pleased with Him, let us 
be pleased with Him. If the God of heaven is well 
pleased with Jesus, let us be pleased with Him. 

Then on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter 
wanted to build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for 
Elias and for Christ, putting Christ on a level with 
Moses and Elias, God Almighty came in a cloud an^ 
snatched Moses and Elias away, and left Christ alone, 
and he broke the silence again : " This is my beloved 
Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him." Hear 
Him. 

Oh, may we hear the voice of the Son of God to-night 
calling us from the world and from ourselves, =and may 
we think well of Him! Oh, let us think well of 
Christ, and let us go out and publish His name, and pro* 
claim salvation to a perishing world! 



PREACH THE GOSPEL, 



And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and pft* % 
the gospel to every creature. — Mark xvi. 15. 

I notice one young lady who is not paying attention. 
I have a text to-day that means everybody. " Go ye into 
all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
That takes in that young lady that is thoughtless and 
careless. I am afraid she has not come here to hear the 
Word. 

Now, the best part of the service, you know, is the text 
There is really more power in this little text than all the 
hymns in the hymn book. There is more life, more 
power, in one word that Jesus Christ has said than in 
tons of the traditions of men and in all the sermons that 
may be preached. 

Now, just let me call your attention to that text again. 
" And He said unto them, go ye into all the world." 
That means Cleveland. He might have had Cleveland 
in his mind when he said it. And the next verse says : 
" And he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, and 
he that believeth not shall be damned." 

These are not the words of any prophet. He was a 
prophet, but he was more than a prophet. They are not the 
words of a man. They are the words of the God-man. 
Christ had faced the world and had conquered it It was 
testing under his feet He had triumphed over the 
world. He had met Satan and had conquered him. He 
had met the cross and had conquered it. He had faced 
man's enemy, which is death, and conquered him. He 

60 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. gj 

had gone down into the grave and had robbed the grave 
of its victory. Joseph's sepulcher lay behind him now, 
empty. It is the captain of our salvation sending out 
his warriors. Around him was gathered that handful of 
men that had been with him in his three years of ministry. 
You can see the tears tickling over their cheeks. He is 
now going to leave them. For three long years — three 
short years they must have been — they had been in his 
company; they had associated together. But now his 
work on earth was finished, as far as he was concerned. 
He must now go up on high and commence and carry 
on the glorious work that he had begun on earth. 

In the sight f the world, these men he had around 
him were very weak and contemptible. There was not 
a mighty ma*i among them. In the sight of the world 
there was , r/ ta great man among them. In the sight of 
the world they were unlettered, unlearned fishermen 
from GaL ! ^e, nearly all of them, and yet he sent them 
out as la' ibs among wolves. " Go ye into all the world 
and pre xh the Gospel to every creature." Don't leave 
out or >. Although the Gospel has been proclaimed now 
for r.pwards of eighteen hundred years and has been pro- 
claimed in this country as in no other country under the sun 
for the past hundred years — there is hardly a child but 
has heard the Gospel proclaimed— yet I will venture to 
say there is not a word in the English language so little 
understood as the word gospel. I venture to say if I 
should ask this audience what that word means, there b 
not one out of ten that could tell. If I should say I was 
going to get off this platform and begin with this man 
there and go through the congregation and ask every 
one what it means, many of you would get up and rur 
out of the house; you would not want to expose youi 
ignorance. I think I had been a partaker of the Gospel 
ten years before I knew what the word meant A grea? 



02 PREACH THE GOSPEL, 

many have an idea that the Gospel is the most doleful 
message that ever came into this world ; and when you 
begin to proclaim it some men put on a face, as though 
you had brought a death warrant or an invitation to at- 
tend some funeral, or witness an execution, or go into 
some hospital where there is some plague. A great many 
people act as if they were to be struck with a plague the 
moment you begin to talk to them about the Gospel. 
The Gospel of the Son of God is the best news that evei 
came from heaven to earth — the best news that was ever 
heard by mortal man. 

Now, if men really believed it, we should not have to 
preach and preach and beg and coax them to believe it 
It don't take men long to believe good news; but the fact 
is that the god of this world has blinded us, so that what 
is good news men think is bad news. When the angel 
came to the shepherds upon the plains of Bethlehem, the 
angel said unto them, "Fear not; for behold I bring 
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all 
people; for unto you is borp. this day in the city of David 
a Savior which is Christ the Lord." That is the Gospel, 
God has provided a Savior for man. When the world 
was lost and ruined, when there was no eye to pity, no 
hand to save, none to deliver, in the fullness of time God 
sent his own Son to redeem the world. That is the 
Gospel. The word Gospel means God's spell. It is 
a time God is not imputing unto men their trespasses and 
sins, but seeking to forgive them, bringing good news, 
glad tidings of great joy. Who will believe it to-day 
and be saved? In the fifteenth chapter of First Cor- 
inthians Paul says: "I declare unto you the Gospel," 
and he goes on to tell what the Gospel was. u Christ 
died for our sins, according to the scriptures." That is 
what Paul called the scriptures. Christ died, not as a 
mere martyr, as some people tell us. He did not die just 



PREACH THE GOSPEL* 63 

to exhibit the love he had for the world. He did not die 
that he might convince men that He loved them. There 
was a deeper meaning in his death than that. He died, 
not as a martyr, as some people tell us, to show that he 
was willing to seal with His blood the principles and 
doctrines that he taught Christ didn't die as Stephen 
did — a martyr — didn't die as that long line of martyrs 
have died — to defend the truth that Christ brought into 
the world. He died as man's substitute. Said he, " I lay 
my life down and I take it up again." This idea that some 
people tell us — that Christ could not help but die! For 
eighteen months before he died he was telling us that he 
was going up to Jerusalem and he should be delivered into 
the hands of the Gentiles, and he should be put to death, 
and on the third day he should rise again. For that 
purpose he came into the world — not only to live, but to 
die for the world — that through his death we might 
enter into eternal life. 

I want to tell you why I think the Gospel is good news. 
It has taken out of my path four of the bitterest enemies 
that I have ever had, and not only my enemies, but the 
enemies of the whole human race — just swept them right 
out of the way, and they are gone. 

The first enemy I want to speak of is sin. Now sin J . 
makes life bitter; sin makes our lives dark. Men may 
discuss about it, and they may deny it and talk as much 
as they are a mind to, but it don't change the fact. Sin 
has made your life and mine bitter. Not only your own 
sins, but the sins of your children, the sins of your friends, 
have brought you into many a dark hour and many a 
sore conflict, and when you take a look into the future 
and remember .that it is written, " The soul that sinneth 
it shall die," and then read again, " That all have sinned 
and come short of the glory of God," there is nothing 
very sweet in the future with that in view. But th$ 



64 PREACH THE GOSPEL, 

Gospel comes and tells me that Jesus Christ came and 
died for sin; that Jesus Christ met the penalty for sin; 
that Jesus Christ came into the world for that very pur 
pose, to put away sin; that " He was manifested to take 
away the sin of this world." " Behold the Lamb ot 
God that taketh away the sin cf the world." Why, the 
prophet says, as he looks forward to that time, "Out of 
love to my soul he hath taken all my sin." I like that 
word " all " — not a part of them. If I had committed a 
hundred sins, and God only had forgiven me ninety-nine, 
I would be just as bad off as if he had not forgiven me 
any. I have got to have all sin put away before 1 
can have peace and rest. " Out of love to my soul He 
hath taken all my sins and cast them behind his back." 
Not behind my back. Satan w r ouid get at them if they 
were there and bring them before me and torment me 
with them. But the prophet says, " Out of love to my 
soul He hath taken all my sins and cast them behind 
His back." How is the devil to get at them? He has 
got to get behind the Almighty's back before he can get 
at them. They will not trouble me if He has put them 
out of the way. That is good news, isn't it? That is 
what the Gospel tells me, that He has put away sin. 

Another Bible illustration is that He has blotted them 
out as a cloud. Now, last night there were a great 
many clouds ; you could not see a star some of the time # 
But if you look around this afternoon you cannot see a 
cloud. Can you tell me what has become of those 
clouds? Can any of your modern philosophers tell me 
where those clouds are? What has become of them? 
They are gone. You cannot find them. But the gospel 
tells me if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ he will 
blot my sins as a thick cloud. That is good news, isn't 
it? 

But, better still, we read over here in Ezekiel that 



PREACH THE G08PBL. (55 

« not one of them shall be mentioned." They are gone 
for time and for eternity. When God forgives it is 
thorough work. We talk about one forgiving, but we 
very often say, " Well, I will forgive you, but I won't 
forget it I want you to remember that I will 
forgive you, but I won't forget it. I will remem- 
ber that against you after all." That is not the 
way the Lord forgives. He says, "When I for- 
give I will not remember." To me that is one 
of the sweetest thoughts in the Bible. If the blood 
of Jesus Christ has atoned for my sins, they are covered 
for time and eternity; they are blotted out for time and 
for eternity; not one of them shall be mentioned. K 
not that good news—to get sin out of the way ? 

Another Bible expression is, " I will remove them as 
far as the east is from the west." I don't know how far 
that is; can't find out — just as far as you can get them. 

Another Bible expression is, " He will cast them into 
the sea of forgetfulness." A minister was telling me of 
his preaching from that text, and his little boy, ten years 
old, who heard the sermon, after they came home, said, 
"Pa, when you were talking about the Lord casting sin 
into the sea, you ought to have told them that sin was 
heavy like stones, and that it would drop out of sight, or 
they might think it would float about like corks on the 
top." But he casts them into the depths of the sea. 

I think it wan John Bunyan who said he was glad it 
was not a river, because a river might get dry. But He 
casts them into the sea, and into the depths of it. Ought 
we not to lift up our heads and rejoice to think that sin 
is put out of the way ? It is gone for time and for eter- 
nity, for God has put it away. 

Then another enemy is death. That has been con- *u 
quered, When I was a little boy I used to look upon 
death as the most terrible thing in this world, I neve? 

Glory 5 



66 PREACH THH GOSPEL*. 

thought of it that I did not tremble, and the cold chills 
used to roll over me. In that little yillage in Massachu- 
setts where I was born and brought up, it was the cus- 
tom when a death occurred to toll the age of the person. 
If a man was ninety years old when he died, there were 
ninety strokes of the bell. I always used to count the 
strokes of that bell. When a person very old died I 
used to think, " Death is a good ways off." But some- 
times death would come down into the teens, and then 
death used to seem nearer. Those times used to be 
times of darkness to me. Some nights I was afraid to 
go to bed — I was afraid of death. People may say I was 
a coward, but nevertheless I was afraid of death; it was 
so terrible to me. I remember the first time I put my 
hand on the face of a corpse. A cold chill went 
through me. 

I remember once acting as pall-bearer to a schoolmate 
of mine, and I did not get over it for days and days. I 
used to look forward to that period as the darkest time 
of my life. But that is all goile now. As I go on through 
life I can say, " O death, where is thy sting ? " and I 
hear a voice rolling down through the centuries, coming 
down from the cross of Christ, saying, " Buried in the 
bosom of the Son of God." He tasted death for every 
man. He took the sting of death in His bosom. Now, 
I can say, " O, death, where is thy sting? " If a hornet 
or a wasp should fly on your hand, you would be afraid 
it would sting. But if the sting was gone — if the sting 
was taken away — you would not be any more 
afraid of it than you would of a fly. That is 
just what Christ did. He took away the sting 
of death. Now, I have not got to die. This Adam 
life will pass away; this house I live in will be torn 
down; but I have " a house not made with hands, eterna] 
ia the heavens." The grave may get this Adam coil, 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. g7 

may get this house I live in, but I have got a new life as 
lasting as God himself. I have become a partaker of the 
divine nature. " He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life." How is death going to touch that? 
Death has had his hand on Christ once; he never will 
again. Death may steal up on to this platform and lay 
his icy hand on me and take me away out of this body, 
but I shall be clothed with immortality; I shall see Him 
and be like Him. Instead of getting a body that is sub- 
ject to sin, I get a body that sin cannot touch — a resur- 
rected and glorified body. It is the Gospel that brings 
me such news. My friends, you had better believe it 
and get the benefit of it 

Then there is another enemy out of the way. I used 9 
to think the grave was the most dark and gloomy place 
in the world. But that gloom is all gone now; and 
when I lay away a friend in Christ, I go to the grave 
and lay him down there, and I can hear a voice coming 
up from the grave, " Because He liveth ye shall live also." 
Tesus Christ conquered the grave. He went down into 
the grave and measured its depths, and they laid him in 
Joseph's sepulchre; but on the third morning, the glori- 
ous resurrection morning, he rose again. He conquered 
the grave. The grave has no victory ; it has lost its vic- 
tory. So we can say now, " O, grave, where is thy vic- 
tory?" The Son of God has robbed the grave of its 
victory. That is what the Gospel tells me. That is 
good news, isn't it? 

The last enemy is the judgment. I used to think it 
would be terrible to have to go up there before the great T* 
white throne and have all the sins I ever committed 
blazed out before the assembled universe. But now I 
find not one of them is to be mentioned. Not only that, 
but the judgment has already passed to the believer, and 
I was judged in Christ Christ took my place. He died 



68 PREACH THE GOSPEL* 

in my stead. He suffered for my sins. He became the 
sinner's substitute. "He was wounded for our trans- 
gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him ; and with His stripes 
we are healed." If Christ was punished for me, I am 
not going to be punished. God is not going to demand 
payment twice, is he? If a man owed me and some one 
else paid it I could not collect it from that man, could I: 
Now, Christ has paid the penalty. Christ has suffered 
for the sins of the world, and when I believe that, I need 
not fear the judgment. 

But I can imagine some of you say, "What will you 
do with that passage where it says, * Every one musl 
give an account of the deeds done in the body?'" ] 
think that is very plain. Paul there is writing to the 
church, and writing to believers, and that is an account 
of stewardship — a judgment for rewards. Every mar 
will be brought into judgment for rewards. And some 
of you Christians that come into the church and live ten, 
fifteen or twenty years, and never lift your hand foi 
Christ — hearers of the word, not doers — you don't think 
there will be much reward for you, do you? Some 
people want to know if there are degrees of reward 
tn heaven, I think every cup will be full, but 1 
think there will be some very small cups there, 
I think Paul will enjoy more than some Christ- 
tans will. I think he will have greater capacity 
for enjoying than some of us Christians. But I think 
there will be a great many people who will just barely 
get into heaven. They have hardly lifted their voices 
for the Son of God. And yet if a man believes on the 
Lord Jesus Christ with his heart He has promised tc 
give him eternal life. That is the beginning; that is 
the first step; and we cannot do a thing to please God 
ontil we do that — until we believe on His Son; and the 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 69 

moment we believe with all our heart on His Son the 
new life begins, and it does not begin until we take that 
step; and if a man says, " I will not believe; I will not 
receive Jesus Christ as my Savior; I will not take Him 
as my way ; I will not take Him as my truth ; I will go 
and find some other way." I believe that man is 
making the mistake that we read of where it says : " He 
that climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief 
and a robber." The only way into the kingdom of God 
is this one way, " Go ye into all the world and preach 
the Gospel to every creature. He that believe th and is 
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall 
be damned." 

Now, there is a universal offer. If any man says: " I 
don't like your Gospel, because it is too narrow," — and I 
very often hear people say that — I just meet them with 
that text: "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." There is a universal offer. 
The rich and the poor, the high and the low, all are to 
have the Gospel preached to them. And preach what? 
Why, that Christ died — that is the Gospel. I do not 
believe He wants us to come and preach to you the 
Gospel, and then does not give you power to believe it; 
do you? Do you 'think the Lord sends his messengers 
out all over the earth to preach his glorious Gospel and 
then has constituted man so he cannot believe it? That 
is what many people tell us. It was not many hours 
ago that that very thing was brought up — that some men 
are so constituted they cannot believe. Away with such 
doctrine! A man comes to me and wants to have me go- 
to his house and take tea with him to-night. " I would 
like very much to go with you, sir, but the fact is, I can't 
go." " Have you got some other engagement?" " No." 
u Why can't you go then?" Well, I don't feel just like 
it" "What is the matter? Are you sick?" No, sin 



70 PREACH THE OOSPEL* 

aever was any better than I am now." " Well, what do 
you mean?" "Well, the fact is, I am so constituted I 
zan't believe you want me." There is a good deal of 
sense in that, isn't there? So when the Gospel of the 
Son of God is preached, people say they are so con- 
.tituted they can't believe it. Away with such doctrine ! 

* Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to 
svery creature. He that believeth" — and there the line 
s drawn. Men can believe if they will. It is not 
oecause men cannot believe; it is because men will not 
oelieve. " Ye will not come unto me that ye might have 
life." Some one has drawn the picture of Peter saying, 

* Lord, you don't really mean that. You don't mean 
that we should go back to Jerusalem and preach the 
Gospel to those men who murdered you." " Yes," says 
Christ, u I want to have you tarry in Jerusalem until the 
power comes, and preach to those Jerusalem sinners first. 
Let those men that murdered me have the Gospel 
preached to them first." " But, Lord they may 
be so constituted they cafi't believe." " But you 
are going to preach the Gospel. That is your work 
Go ye into all the world, and proclaim the Gospel 
to every creature." "What!" says Peter, "preach 
the Gospel to that man that drove those naiis into 
four hands and feet?" "Yes, go and hunt up that 
man that drove those nails into my hands and my 
feet, and tell him that I forgive him freely; that I love 
tiim with an everlasting love; that I will give him a seat 
n my kingdom if he will believe on me. Go hunt up 
:hat man that drove that spear into my side, and tell him 
:here is a nearer way to my heart than that. Tell him that 
:here is nothing but love in my heart for him, and that if he 
will believe on me, he shall have a seat in my kingdom, 
Gro hunt up that man that brought that cruel crown of 
horns ^n^ put it on my brow. Go tell him that if he will 



PREACH THE GOSPBI*. ^1 

believe on me I will put a crown on his head, and there 
shall not be a thorn in it. Go hunt up that man that 
spat in my face and tell him that I love him and that he 
can be saved if he will believe the Gospel and repent 
from his sins and turn unto me. Preach the Gospel to 
every creature." John Bunyan describes the scene, thai 
when Peter stood up there on the day of Pentecost 
preaching and the crowd was flocking around him, one 
came up and said, " Peter, Peter, can I be saved? I am 
the man that spat in his face." " Yes," says Peter, "He 
told me to preach the Gospel to every creature, and that 
means you." Another comes pressing up through the 
crowd, " Peter, do you think there is any hope for me? 
Do you think I can be saved ? I am the man that took 
that rod out of his hand and brought it down over that 
cruel crown of thorns. Can I be saved?" " Yes," says 
Peter, u He told me to preach the Gospel to every 
creature." Then comes the centurion, and he says, "I 
am the man that put Him to death. I had charge of the 
execution. I gave orders that those rails should be 
driven into His hands and feet. Peter can I be saved ? " 
" Yes," says Peter, " He told me to preach the Gospel 
to every creature, and he that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be 
damned." 

My friends, is not that a universal offer? Is not that 
invitation extended to every creature? If a man in this 
gospel meeting is lost, whose fault is it? Is it God's 
fault? What more can He do for us than he has done? 
He sent His prophets, ard we killed them. He sent 
His own Son, and we murdered Him. And after He 
had gone up on High, He sent the Holy Spirit to con- 
vict us of sin ; and the Holy Spirit is here on the earth 
at the present time. 

So, my friends to-day you can believe the gospel if 



72 PREACH THE GOSPEL. 

you will. And the gospel is this: that Christ has 
come to meet your need. There is not a need that you 
feel in your heart to-day but that Christ can meet if 
you let Him. God sent Him here to meet man's need, 
'* He healed all them that had need of healing." Do 
you need it? Is the heart heavy and sad on account of 
sin? Let Jesus Christ come to meet your need. He is 
so anxious to save men, you have not got to ask Him; 
He stands at the door of your heart now offering you sal- 
vation, and all you have to do is just to take it and live. 
When I was in Glasgow a lady came to me and said, 
" Mr. Moody, you are all the time talking about take, 
take, take — all you have to do is to take — as though we 
were to take a gift. Is that word take in the Bible? I 
have been hunting through the Bible, and I can't find it 
anywhere." " Well, I am very glad to tell you it is 
here. I don't have to manufacture texts. It would take 
a lifetime, it would take a thousand years, to just begin 
to touch the texts in that book. We can't begin to use 
what we have got." She said, " I wish you would just 
show it to me." So I turned over into the last chapter 
of the Bible and read: "The Spirit and the bride say, 
come. And let him that heareth say, come. And let 
him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him 
take the water of life freely." That is broad enough, 
isn't it? I can imagine after the Lord got up to glory, 
He could see that after Paul wrote a few of his Epistles, 
some one would say, " I can't be saved, because I don't 
belong to the elect." He saw that some one was going 
to stumble over the doctrine of election. So the Lord 
came down one Sunday — John was in the Spirit on the 
Lord's day there on Patmos; and John and his Master 
got together; — can't tell whether it was in Patmos or in 
heaven. The Lord came to John and said, ? Now s 
John you just write these things." And he began to 



PREACH THE GOSPEL, 

write; and he kept on writing. " Now," says he, "be- 
fore you seal it, put in one more invitation so broad that 
there shall not be a man in the world that will think he 
;<s left out." He might have seen some one down here 
in Cleveland stumbling over the doctrine of election. 
So He worded the invitation so that every man would 
be included. " The Spirit and the bride say, Come." 
The church is the bride; and the Spirit of God unites 
with the church and says, " Come." " And let him 
that heareth say, Come." If you have heard it, take 
up the cry and ask others. " And let him that is athirst 
Come." Some people say, " I am deaf and I can't hear." 
A great many people say they are not thirsty enough. 
They say they are anxious to be anxious. Isn't that a 
strange statement. " I am anxious to be anxious." And 
so they think they are not thirsty enough. " Let him 
that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst 
Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of 
life freely." And if God Almighty, maker of heaven 
and earth says, " Let him Come," who is going to stop 
him? All the devils in hell could not stop that little 
boy there from coming and taking the water of life to- 
day if he will. There is nothing to hinder you if you 
will. The Lord will give you legions of angels to 
help you take the water of life if you want it. You 
can take the water of life to-day. You can be blessed 
to-day if you will. You can have every sin of your life 
swept out of your way, and get victory over the world, 
the flesh, and the devil to-day if you will. 

" Go ye into all the w r orld and preach the gospel to 
every creature." That means every one of us here. The 
question is to-day, What will you do with the gospel of 
the Son of God? What will you do with this offer? 
He comes to every person here and says, " I want to 
forgive you. I want to bless you." Now, you can 



74 PREACH THE GOSPEL. 

spurn the offer, you can refuse it, or you can let Him 
bless you. 

I read an account some time ago of a man in Russia 
who became a wild, reckless prodigal. His father was 
very rich, and his father got him a commission in the 
army. He thought if he sent him away from his old 
associates he might reform. That is a mistake a great 
many people make. They think if they can get them 
away from their old comrades they will break off from 
their sins. You can't get away from the sin that is in 
you* Christ is the only one that can give you victory 
over sin. This father put his boy in the army in the 
hope that it might do him good. But he went on a 
great deal worse in the army than when he was out 
He gambled and spent all the money he could get hold 
of and all he could borrow. The laws of that country 
are very rigid about the payment of debts* If a man 
can not pay his debts he has to go to prison. This 
young man had been gambling and got in debt, and he 
had got to the end of his rope, as we would say. He 
could not go any further. And one night he sat in the 
barracks— he had to meet that day, and there was only 
one way he could meet the debt He could sell his com- 
mission; but if he sold his commission he would have to 
go home in disgrace, and meet his old associates and that 
loving father. His heart was broken. He was coming 
to himself, and beginning to see what he had brought 
himself to. So he sat down there in his barracks that 
night and took a piece of paper and a pen and began to 
put down his debts, and reckoned up to see where he 
was. He put down a long column and footed it up. It 
was a large amount ; and one of the largest debts had to 
be met the next day, He wept like a child over that 
account, and wrote underneath, "Who is to pay the 
debt?" and then laid his head down upon his desk and 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 



75 



A^ept, and at last he went to sleep. That night the Czar 
of the Russias, dressed in disguise, passed through the 
barracks to see what the soldiers were doing, and he 
came into this man's barracks and found him asleep. 
His candle was burning very faintly. It was very late 
in the night. The Czar took up that paper, and he sus- 
pected what it meant. He could see the marks of dissi- 
pation upon the young man. He took up his pen and 
wrote right underneath, the word " Nicholas," and passed 
on. When the young man awoke from his sleep, what 
was his surprise to see that signature, — " Nicholas." 
What does this mean? That is the hand-writing of the 
Emperor. How came it here? He could not make out 
what it meant. But early the next morning the Empe- 
ror sent the money around and the debt was paid. 

I simply tell you this as an illustration. You can just 
put down all your sins from childhood up that you can 
think of, and write right underneath, " The blood of 
Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth from all sin." That is 
the gospel. His blood was shed for that very purpose, 
and your sins can be covered to-day if you will have 
them covered up. You can be saved this hour if you 
will. You can believe the gospel and be saved to-day ii 
you will* 



HEAVEN. 



A great many people have an idea that we know noth- 
ing about the future state, and that we are to be left 
in darkness. A great many professed Christians will 
talk as if it was all speculation the moment you begin 
to talk to them about the future, and about Heaven. 

Now, I firmly believe if the Lord had wanted us to 
be in darkness about the future, there would not have 
been anything in Scripture about it. If the Lord had 
not wanted us to study the Scripture and find out any- 
thing about Heaven, it wouldn't have been recorded. 
I believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration, and 
that all is profitable from one end of the Bible to the 
other; and if persons that are in darkness about heaven 
would just take up a concordance and the Bible and go 
from one end of the Bible to the other, and see what is 
in scripture about heaven, I think they would be per- 
fectly amazed. 

When I was in Dublin I heard of a man there who 
never had looked into the Bible, but he had lost his only 
son, and every night after that that man could be seen 
in his little cottage with a light searching the Bible. 
Every hour he could get away from his business he was 
looking into the word of God. Some one asked him 
what he was doing it for, and he said he was trying to 
find out where his Johnny had gone. 

I suppose all this congregation have departed friends, 
and I think we ought to be interested enough to know 
where they have gone . When I was in Great Britain 



7(3 



HEAVEN. 



77 



I n> -X fk&urs and n. others that had sons m this country, 
the} wers very anxious to hear about this country, they 
wouM lister* for houts if I would talk to them about this 
country, because the) had loved ones here. 

A minister lost his „hiid and a brother minister came 
to the funem to officiate, and when he got through the 
father got up and said that years ago he used to look out 
across the rfce? that flowed in front of his house. He 
looked over on the other side of the river and he said 
there were petyle there he did not know; he took no 
interest in that immunity because they were strangers 
to him ; but on-3 day hi& daughter went over there to 
live ; she left the home and was married and settled 
down, and he said when that child went over there to 
live he became suddenly interested in that community; 
and said he " Now I have got another child who has 
gone over another river, and heaven seems dearer to me 
to-day than it ever has before." 

The trouble is we are so busy in this world; we have 
so much to think about, so many cares, so much pleas- 
ure, so much of the world, that we don't stop to think 
about where we are going or what our future state is to 
be. 

Now, to-day let us remember that it is not all specu- 
lation — that it is not all fiction. We have associated 
with skeptics and unbelievers so much that we even 
doubt the existence of heaven. We don't believe that it 
is real. I don't think we would have to urge men to let 
go of the things of time if they really believed that 
these things were eternally true, and that Christ has 
really gone to prepare a place for us. 

I remember, soon after I was converted, an infidel got 
hold of me, and he wanted to know how it was that 
when I prayed I always addressed my prayer as if God 
was above me. He said that God was in one plact a& 



78 HEAVEN* 

much as in another — that God was everywhere. I did 
not know much about my Bible then, and I must confess 
I was a little confused the next time I went to pray, and 
it seemed as if I was praying to space — just to the air; 
it seemed as if I hadn't any one to pray to. I could not 
locate God. But since I have got better acquainted with 
my Bible, I find that it is right for us when we approach 
the throne of mercy to locate God. Heaven is a location. 
This idea that heaven is everywhere and nowhere is 
coming from the evil one. It is a doctrine that has been 
taught by those that believe that there is no heaven. 

Now just turn for a moment to the twenty-sixth chap- 
ter of Deuteronomy, and fifteenth verse : " Look down 
from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy 
people in Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, 
as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that floweth 
with milk and honey ." 

Heaven, I believe is as much a place as Cleveland is. 
I believe that it is located, and that God has a dwelling 
place. To be sure we say that God is here with his 
Spirit, the same as w r e say the sun has been shining in 
Cleveland ; but the astronomers tell us the sun is ninety- 
five millions of miles away. But we must bear in mind 
that God is a person, and if He is a person, He must 
have a dwelling place. Now, we find here in this chap- 
ter we just read that Moses prayed that God would look 
lown from heaven. 

Then we find in the prayer of the Lord Jesus, "Our 
Father which art in heaven" — not on earth, but " which 
art in heaven." 

Then we find in Revelation that it is called a city, 
and we finding Abraham looking for " that city which 
hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God." He 
believed that was real. The well watered plains of 
Sodom did not have any attractions for Abraham. Why ? 



HKAVSN. 79 

Because with the eye of faith he saw a better country — 
a city that has not any cemetery. Think of that! There 
is no such city as that on this continent. If there could 
be a city found in this world that had not a cemetery, 
what a rush there would be to it. Not only that, but it 
is a city where sin cannot enter. Think of that! Noth- 
ing that defileth shall enter that city. It is a city where 
sorrow is a stranger, and where tears never flow. A 
city without tears— think of that! Think of the tears 
that have flowed in this city ! Think of the sorrow that 
is represented by this audience to-day! If each one 
could open his own heart and tell out his own sorrows 
what a dark book it would make, wouldn't it? How 
filled with sorrow and with burdens! In that city there 
shall be no sorrow; there shall be no tears, and there 
shall be no death there. Death will be a stranger. Ah! 
What a city! Is not that worth living for? Some 
general said when he came in sight of Damascus, and 
the people fled and left the city, " If they will not fight 
for that city what will they fight for?" And if men 
will not live for heaven what will they live for? 

Let us look a moment at John's description of that 
place— R evelation xxi. 21 : "And the twelve gates were 
twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl. 
And the street of the city was pure gold, as if it were 
transparent glass, and I saw no temple therein, for the 
Lord God Almighty and the lamb are the temple of it. 
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon 
to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and 
the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them 
which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the 
kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it; 
and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there 
shall be no night there." On a little gravestone in a ceme- 
tery where a blind child was buried was put these words. 



80 HEAVEN. 

" Nc K!ghu n She li^ed in perpetual night ?iere — in per- 
petual darkness; bat the thought that filled her mind, 
that animated her and lifted her up out of ter troubles 
and sorrows was that she was going to a Land where 
there was no night. "And they shall bring the glory 
and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise 
enter into it anything that defileth; neither whatsoever 
worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but thej* which 
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. 

There is a great difference between the heavenS and 
the earthly paradise. In this earthly paradise we find 
Adam driven out, but we shall go no more out forever. 
We find Adam driven away from the Tree of Life, but 
in this city we shall have a right to the Tree of Life, and 
we shall eat of that Tree and live forever. We cannot 
be tempted there. In this earthly paradise Adam was 
tempted and lost all. The tempter will be shut out of 
that city. Nothing that defileth can enter there. Thank 
God for what is in store for those that will put their trust 
in him! 

But I have had this question raised: What does Paul 
mean about the third heaven? Are there three degrees? 
Now, the Hebrews in their writings acknowledge three 
heavens. The first was where the showers come and 
where the birds fly. The second was the firmament 
where the sun, moon and stars are. The third was the 
dwelling place of God. When Paul spoke about the 
third heaven that is w T hat he meant. 

Now turn for a moment to Second Chronicles seventh 
chapter, twelfth verse: "And the Lord appeared to Sol- 
omon by night and said unto him *I have heard thy 
prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an 
house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no 
rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land s or 
if I send pestilence among my people, if my people, 



HEAVEN. 81 

which are called by my name, shall humble themselves 
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked 
ways, then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sin 
and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, 
and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this 
place.'" We find that God says here, "I will 
hear prayer that is offered in this place." Ii 
he brings famine and pestilence upon the land 
on account of their backsliding and on account of 
their sins, if they will humble themselves and confess 
their sins and turn from them, then, He says, i I will 
hear in heaven, my dwelling place, and I will answer 
their prayer and I will turn their captivity." I believe 
that God has done that all these thousands of years. 
Every time we have wandered away from God, and the 
heavens seem to be shut, and we seem to have no com- 
munion with God, it is because some sin has come in and 
God has hid his face. And what we want in the church 
to-day is to turn from our sins back to God and he will 
hear our cry ; and he will give us abundance of rain. God 
is not so far away but that he can hear prayer. There 
has been a good deal of speculation about the distance 
from this earth to heaven. People often try to find out 
something about it If we don't know just the distance 
there is one thing we do know, and that is that it is not 
so far but God can hear a poor sinner pray. There is 
never a tear shed on this earth but God has seen it. 
There never has been a sigh but God has heard it. 
When Daniel besought that he might understand his 
vision, Gabriel appeared in his presence to interpret it 
before he had finished his prayer. Heaven is not so far 
away after all. If we are living right, we will be so near 
heaven that we will get communications from there very 
often. We find the publican going up into the temple 
made a very short prayer, but it was long enough to 

Glory 6 



82 HEAVEN. 

reach heaven, and he went down to his house justified* 
We find again, when Solomon dedicated the Temple — 
First Kings eighth chapter, thirteenth verse — he prays, 
w Hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling place," 

If I was going off to Australia, or Japan, or some 
other foreign country, to spend the rest of my days, I 
would want to know all about the climate and all about 
the society. I would want to know all about the advan- 
tages of that country if I did not expect to live there 
more than ten, fifteen or twenty years. We know we 
do not live but a little while. Life is but a vapor. It is 
but an inch of time as eternal ages roll on. A few more 
rolling suns and we are landed into an other world. 

Now, the question is, who are we going to have for 
society there? We are clearly taught in these passages 
and a good many others that God the Father is there, 
and that he is a person, that he has a location, that he 
lives in Heaven, and that we shall see Him and be with 
Him, because we find alL through the scriptures that 
Christ is with the Father, and They are one, and His 
prayer was that His disciples might be with Him. 

In the seventh chapter of Acts and the fifty-fifth verse 
you will find that Christ is there. The disciples saw 
Him when He went up. People say we should not 
look upon God as being above us. Christ went up. A 
cloud received Him out of their sight; and those men of 
Galilee stood there gazing up into Heaven. Two men 
came down, and they said, " Why stand ye gazing up 
into Heaven, for this same Jesus whom ye seek was 
taken up from you into Heaven, and so shall he come in 
like manner. 

Now, w 7 e find in the seventh chapter of Acts that 
Stephen, the first martyr that laid down his life — that 
was willing to seal his testimony with his blood — when 
they were stoning him and he was fighting, as it were, 



HEAVEN. gg 

the battle of life single-handed and alone, he was testi- 
fying and there could not any one resist his testimony — 
it was so perfectly overwhelming, so powerful; the 
mighty Spirit of God resting upon him, they could not 
resist his testimony; and while he was giving a clear 
testimony for the Son of God, standing up here in this 
dark world for Christ, he saw heaven opened and he 
saw Christ sitting at the right hand of God, I can 
imagine, as I see Stephen righting, single-handed and 
alone, the Son of God stood up to give him a welcome. 
He had not forgotten his disciples down here. He is 
still interested in His church on earth, and when Stephen 
gave such a good confession, I can imagine that the Son 
of God stood up to watch the conflict and to give him a 
welcome. Heaven is not so far away, is it? It was not 
so far but that Stephen could look from Jerusalem right 
into heaven. Some people think that this was his im- 
agination, but it was a glorious imagination, was it not? 
Many men were fired by Stephen's zeal to go and lay 
down their lives for the Gospel. Would to God we 
had men in these days that had such courage for Christ 
that they would be willing to die, if need be, rather than 
give up the truth? 

Now, we have Christ there. I believe that is what is 
going to make heaven so attractive. It will not be the 
jasper walls and the pearly gates, and its streets paved 
with transparent gold. We know nothing about the 
kind of gold they have up there. It is transparent gold, 
and it is very common. But that is not what is going to 
make heaven so attractive. What will make heaven 
so attractive will be the loved ones that are there. What 
is it that makes your home and mine so dear? Is it be- 
cause we have them well furnished? Ah, that is not it. 
You go up on this avenue into the most gilded palace 
there, and you take one, two or three out of the family, 



84 HKAVHN. 

and it becomes a gilded sepulcher, and men say; u + 
don't want to live there any longer; I have got tired of 
it" It is not your beautiful grounds and your beautiful 
pictures on the wall, your beautiful works of art, that 
make home. That is not it. It is the loved ones that 
are there. I remember after being away from home 
sometime, I went back to see my widowed mother and 
found her not at home. I had longed to get there but 
home had lost its charms. What did I care for home if 
mother was not there? She was the loved one. And 
what is going to make heaven so attractive are those 
that are there. We shall see God who gave up his son 
and see the Lord Jesus himself. It seems to me, if God 
will permit me to get just one look at Him it will pay 
me for all I have done down here. 

There was a friend telling me when I was in Brooklyn 
of a father whose wife was very sick, and their little 
child was not old enough to understand about the sick- 
ness and it was troubling the mother, so they took the 
child away to one of the neighbors. The child never 
had been separated from the mother before that, and it 
kept teasing to be taken home. The mother kept grow- 
ing worse and they could not take it home. At last the 
mother died, and they talked it over and thought it best 
to let the child remember the mother as she saw her alive, 
and the mother was buried without the little child seeing 
her. They then took the child home, and the moment 
the child got into the house she ran into the parlor and 
cried " mamma, mamma." But mamma was not there. 
And she went from one room to another, all over the 
house. Went to the closet where her mother sometimes 
took her to pray, looked in there. Then she began to 
weep and said, " take me back." Home had lost all its 
sweetness, all its attraction. What would heaven be 
without Christ? What would heaven be without God, 



HBAVEN. 85 

who gave up Christ for us? It is the loved ones that 
are there. That is what will make heaven so attractive. 

I think, if we thought more of heaven and those that 
are there we would not be so earthly minded. We 
would remember that we are merely passing through 
this earth; we will only be here a night, as it were; we 
will soon be in another world. 

But not only are we going to see God the Father and 
Christ the Son there, but we are told that angels are 
there. I have not got time to call your attention to many 
passages, but we find in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew 
and the ioth verse, that Christ says "that in heaven 
their angels do always behold the face of my Father 
which is in heaven." We will have good society when 
we get there. We will have the society of the angels, 
not fallen angels, but those angels that are pure and holy. 
Then in another place it says that the angels of heaven 
do not know the time that God has appointed. And 
then Gabriel, when Zachariah doubted his word — 
Gabriel had never been doubted before; he had come 
from a world where there were no lies, no deception, no 
fraud ; ana I suppose he did not understand Zachariah 
when he doubted his word, Zachariah could not believe 
that he was to be the father of John the Baptist, and he 
wanted some token. " Why," says Gabriel, " I am 
Gabriel, who standeth in the presence of the Almighty." 
He had never been doubted before. "You want a 
token do you? Well, I will give it to you; You shall not 
speak until that child is born." Struck dumb for nine 
months! Some people want some other token, some other 
evidence that God's word is true besides the Bible. Let 
us not ask for any other token, God has said it, that is 
enough. Has he not said it and shall he not make it 
good? Take away the Bible from the earth and the earth 
becomes dark as midnight. 

Then not only are the angels there, but I believe that 



86 HEAVEN. 

the saints, those that have died pn Christ, are there. 
There is a class of people who say that the soul becomes 
unconscious and sleeps until the resurrection. I cannot 
believe that. There is another class of people who tell 
us that in fact there is no hereafter at all, and that when 
we die that is the last of us. I will not take up those 
things now, but I just want to call your attention to a 
few passages of scripture that I think will help us. A 
great many people are anxious to know where their 
loved ones are and whether we shall know them when 
we see them again. There is one passage of scripture 
that always settles that in my mind : " I shall be satisfied 
when I awake in his likeness." If I want to know my 
friends I will know them because He will satisfy me. 
There will not be one solitary want that God will not 
gratify then. Moses and Elias were known on the 
Mount of Transfiguration. They had not lost their 
identity. I think there is no doubt about our knowing 
our friends there, and I think we shall love them better 
there and we shall be forever with them. No separ- 
ation takes place in that city. 

But now let us look at the twelfth chapter of John and 
the twenty-sixth verse: " If any man serve Me let him 
follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant 
be; if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor." 
Now, I not do think that death is going to separate us. I 
do not think that I am going to be with Christ and work 
for Him for twenty, or thirty, or forty years and then be 
separated from Him. I believe the Apostles are with 
Him. They may not be satisfied yet, because they have 
not got their resurrected bodies. 

Let us turn to the 17th chapter of John and the 4th 
verse, that wonderful prayer, the last prayer that he made 
here with his disciples : " Father, I will that they also 
whom thou has given me, be with me where I am; that 
they may behold my srlory. which thou hast given me, 



HKAVBN. 



87 



i <?r thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." 
Now if a man receive eternal life when he is converted, 
and that is what God says he receives, how are you 
going to bury eternal life in the grave? All the under- 
takers in the world could not build a coffin big enough 
to bury eternal life. That life cannot go into the grave. 
That life cannot sleep until the resurrection. It is life 
without end — eternal life, and that cannot die. Death 
has had his hands on Jesus Christ once; he never will 
have his hand on Him again. He tasted death once. 
He conquered death. He bound him hand and foot 
He went down into the grave and overcame him. Now, 
if I have got Christ's life in me, how is death going to 
touch that life? It does not say I am going to get eternal 
life when I die, nor at the general resurrection. "He 
that believe th on the Son hath life." I have not got to 
wait. "He that believeth on the Son hath life" — H-a-t-h; 
hath — present tense. 

I think Paul did not have the idea that his soul was 
going to be in the grave eighteen hundred years. 
His body has been in the grave now eighteen hundred 
years. Do you think that a man that lived with his 
Master as Paul did, and went through what he did, has 
been away from the Lord and in an unconscious state these 
eighteen hundred years? It don't sound like it when he 
wrote to those Philippians, " For I am in a strait betwixt 
two, having a desire to depart and to be M — in the grave 
eighteen hundred years ? The idea of his soul going down 
into the grave with those worms never entered his mind, 
"For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart 
and to be with Christ, which is far better." Absent from the 
body, present with the Lord. The day that Nero took his 
head the Son of God took his soul into glory with him. 
There is no doubt about that. " If this earthly house is 
dissolved I have a building not made with hands, eternal in 



88 HBAVB1T. 



V 



the heavens." This idea that death is going to separate 
us from the Master we want to dismiss now and forever. 
I got a card some time ago from a friend of mine in 
London that lost a very dear mother; and instead of 
putting on the card a black border, as most of those 
English people do, he put on gold. They talk about \ 
that city being paved with gold. Why shouldn't we put 
on gold instead of black. I think it is a great deal better. 
His sainted mother had gone up on high. It says here 
on this card: 

O ! call it not death, 'tis life begun, 
For the waters are passed, and home is won: 
The ransomed spirit hath reached the shore, 
Where they weep and suffer and sin no more. 

She is safe in her Father's house above, 
In the place prepared by her Savior's love, 
To depart from the world of sin and strife, 
And to be with Jesus ; yes, this is life ! 

In that same letter he sent me another little card, 
" The Voice from Heaven," as if his mother had spoken 
back from that world. I suppose many of you have 
seen it, but it is worth reading a good many times. I 
have read it a number of times 

I 6hine in the light of God ; 

His likeness stamps my brow. 
Through the valley of death my feet have trod; 

I reign in glory now. 

If we have friends that have gone over the river, let 
us not be mourning, but let us go out and work for the 
Master. 

No breaking heart is here, 

No keen and thrilling pain, 
No wasted cheek where the frequent tear, 

Hath rolled and left its stain. 

I have reached the jovs of heaven; 

I am one of the sainted band : 
For my head a crown of gold is given, 

And a harp is in my hand. 

I have heard the song they sing, 
Whom Jesus hath set free. 



HEAVBN. 



89 



Ah, think of that new songl the song of Moses and 
the Lamb! I am afraid, Mr. Sankey, they will not want 
to hear you, that song will be much sweeter than any 
you sing — that chorus of a hundred and forty-four 
thousand. We must learn to like music down here. 1 
pity a professed Christian who does not like music. It 
is the only thing we know of their doing up there. It 
is the occupation of Heaven. 

I have heard the song they sing, 

Whom Jesus hath set free; 
And the glorious walls of heaven ring 

With my new born melody. 

No sin, no grief, no pain, 

Safe in mj happy home, 
My fears all fled, my doubts all slain, 

My hour of triumph is come. 

O, friends of mortal years, 

The trusted and the true, 
Ye are watching still in the valley of tears, 

But I wait to welcome you. 

Do I forget? O, no, 

For memory's golden chain 
Shall bind my heart to the hearts below 

Till they meet and touch again. 

Each link is strong and bright, 
And love's electric flame 
\ Flows freely down, like a river of light, 
To the world from whence I came. 

Do you mourn when another star 

Shines out from the glittering sky? 
Do you weep when the raging voice of war 

And the storms of conflict die? 

Then why should your tears run down, 

And your hearts be sorely riven, 
For another gem in the Savior's crown, 

Another star in Heaven? 

When that man sent me those little cards I said, 
w Really he has got the right idea. It is life after alL 
She has just gone up there to live forever — gone into a 
world where death can never come." 

So if we take this idea of it, that a new life is simply 



90 HRAVXH. 

that we cannot die, cannot perish, that we ai*e going to 
live forever with him, then we see that enemy is out of 
the way* I had a little child in my Sunday-school 
district, whose father and mother were infidels, and they 
said to me the last time I was talking with them, that 
they didn't know where it was that child heard the name 
of God, unless it was when the father blasphemed. 
The little child was so young it could not speak its own 
name. Its name was Julia. The friends were gathered 
around its couch and the little child, as they thought had 
died and they stood there weeping. Its eyes were 
closed, but all at once the little child opened them, when 
a beautiful glow was noticed in them, and reaching up 
both hand, she said, " Dulia is tumin', Dod, Dulia is 
tumin'," and passed away. Who taught that little child 
there was a God? I believe the Lord Jesus lifted the 
curtain and^that little child saw God, saw God the loving 
Father ready to take it to His bosom. So, my friends, 
let us believe that when our loved ones, our little ones 
pass away, the Savior has a place for them and He will 
take better care of them than we can, and they are with 
Him. 

A friend was telling me some time ago, and it burned 
into my heart as a father, he said a man had a son 
that was sick, but he did not consider him dangerously 
ill. He went down to the store as usual and when he 
came home at noon he found his wife weeping, and he 
said, "what is the trouble?" She said, "There has been 
a great change in our boy, since you left this morning. 
I am afraid it is death. I wish you would go in and see 
him, for if it is death I can't tell him." The mother 
thought the little boy would be afraid of death. The 
father went in and sat down on the edge of the bed and 
placed his hand upon the forehead of the boy. He 
could feel the cold, damp sweat of night gathering and 



HEAVEN, 



91 



he said to him, " My son, do you know you are dying?" 
" No, father, is this death I feel stealing over me ? " 
"Yes, you are dying." " Will I die to-day? " "Yes, 
my son you cannot live until night." The little fellow 
smiled and said, " I will be with Jesus to-night, won't I 
father?" The father said, "Yes, my boy, you will be 
with the Savior to-night." The father turned his head 
to conceal the tears. The little boy saw the tears 
trickling down his father's face, and he said, " Father, 
don't weep for me, when I get to heaven, I will go right 
straight to Jesus and I will tell Him that ever since I 
can remember you have tried to lead me to Him." 

Oh, how sweet to have our children go away from 
earth feeling that there is one that will take care of them 
and provide for all their wants and keep them safe until 
we get home! Oh, may God help us to live for Heaven, 
so that our children shall have confidence in what we 
profess! That they may believe there is a future state; 
that there is a Heaven for them. And let me say, if 
there is a father or mother here to-day that is without 
Jesus Christ, that has no hope beyond the grave, won't 
you just seek Him to-day, and set you heart and affec- 
tions on things above? 



HEAVEN.— No. a. 



We find in the tenth chapter of Luke and twentieth 
verse that the names of all the disciples are recorded 
above. He sent out two by two " other sever ty also." 
They went into the different towns and village. They 
were elated with their success, and rejoiced, for the very 
devils were subject to them. They were gifteJ with the 
spirit of Almighty God. But Christ seems t^ have ob- 
jected to this spirit of rejoicing in them. He says, 
M Rather rejoice that your names are written ui heaven." 
Some say, " If we are not saved until the judgment day 
how can our names be already written in ht^ven." A 
friend once told me that in China they had two books 
in their courts, one that they called the bo&£ of death 
and the other the book of life, and whenever a criminal 
was sentenced to death and executed, his nasaie was put 
down in the book of death, and when he is found not 
guilty his name is recorded in the book of life. 

Every man, woman and child in this audience to-day 
have their names written in the book of death and the 
book of life. When we are born of God we pass from 
death unto life. Now as I said the other day, it is the 
privilege of a child of God to know. Where there is 
doubt about any important question there can be no rest. 
If you have a child sick, hanging in the balance between 
life and death, there is no rest, no peace, as long as you 
are uncertain whether it will get well or not. If I get 
on a train to go to a certain city, and I can not tell 
whether the train is going to that or some other city, 

92 



HKAVBN. 



93 



there is no rest, no peace. And this idea that we can 
not tell whether we are going to heaven or hell is a false 
idea. The moment you begin to talk to some people 
about names being written up in heaven they turn up 
their noses and say, " Don't talk about that stuff to me 
— about names being written in heaven as if they kept 
books there." When a man cavils I always go right to 
the Word of God and take my stand right on scripture. 
There is considerable in scripture about names being 
written in the Book of Life. I was amazed when I 
came to hunt it up to find a passage in the prophecy of 
Daniel about the Book. If you will turn to the twelfth 
chapter of the prophecy of Daniel and the first verse 
you will find: "And at that time shall Michael stand 
up, the great prince which standeth for the children of 
thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as 
never was since there was a nation even to that same 
time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, 
every one that shall be found written in the Book." 

Then I find Paul writing down to those Philippians at 
Phiiippi, that town where they had given him such 
cruel treatment. " And I entreat thee also, true yoke 
fellow, help those women which labored with me in the 
Gospel, with Clement also, and with other, my fellow- 
laborers, whose names are in the Book of Life." 

It is not only our privilege so to live that other people 
may know that our names are written in the Book of 
Life. 

I had a friend coming back from Europe a few years 
ago, and as the party were coming down from London 
to Liverpool, they made up their minds to go to the 
Northwestern Hotel. When they got there they found 
the hotel had been full for days, and they could not 
accommodate them. My friend found all the company 
taking up their satchels and starting off, and they said to 



HSAYBN. 

her, "Are you going with us over to this ether hotel? 
" No," she said, " I am going to remain here." " Why,* 1 
they said, " there is not any room, the hotel is full.' 
" O," she said, " I have got a room." " How did yo* 
get it?" " Why, I sent my name on ahead." That is 
just what Christians are doing. They are sending their 
names on ahead, They are giving a little thought to 
the other life. There is another life beyond this, and 
what Christians are doing is taking a little thought 
about the future and not spending all their time and 
energy upon things of time. Everything that we seek, 
everything that we handle down here is transitory, but 
the things of the world to which we are going will 
endure forever. 

Now, I want to call attention to a few more passages 
about names being written in the Book of Life, Revela- 
tion thirteenth chapter, eighth verse: "And all that 
dwell upon the earth shall worship him " — that is, anti- 
Christ—" whose names are not written in the Book of 
Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." 
That dividing line is going to be drawn by and by. Then 
it will appear who is for God, and who is against Him ; 
and every man whose name is not written in the Book 
of Life will bow down to the anti-Christ, the Beast, and 
worship him. The quicker that time comes the better. 
I am tired of seeing people trying to be on both sides of 
this question. I believe we are suffering more to-day 
from people inside of the church, unconverted, than from 
any other class of people — people who profess to be dis- 
ciples of Jesus Christ, and yet are living in the world, 
like the world, and for the world, and who care for noth- 
ing else. 

There is another passage I want to call your attention 
to, Revelation twentieth chapter, twelfth verse: "And I 
taw the dead j small and great, stand before God; and 



HEAVEN. 

9o 



the books were opened, which is the Book of Life; and the 
dead were judged out of those things which were written 
in the books, according to their works." That is a judg- 
ment of stewardship. One shall be made ruler over five 
cities and another over ten, and I am afraid, some will 
not have any; they will just barely get into the kingdom 
of God and get life; that is all you can say. They will 
get into heaven as Lot got out of Sodom, by the skin of 
his teeth. His works were all burned up. There are a 
good many Lots and Sodoms at the present time. You 
will not have to go out of Cleveland to find them. 
Everything they have done, everything they do, is going 
to be lost. They are time servers. They cannot look 
beyond this life. 

Then again in the twenty-first chapter of Revelation 
twenty-seventh verse, we read : "And there shall in no' 
wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever 
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." It is astonish- 
ing to hear people talk. Only yesterday I heard people 
say they were going to heaven without regeneration, 
without being born of the Spirit, without being con- 
verted. In other words, they might just as well say, « I 
am going to heaven whether God will have me there or 
not." If a man does not give up his skepticism, his 
unbelief, his sins, he cannot enter that city. These are 
almost the last words in Scripture — the last chapter but 
one, "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything 
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, 
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's 
Book of Life." It is a very important question. It is a 
question we ought to have settled in our minds. " Is my 
name written in the Book of Life?" "Oh, well," you 
may say, " my name is on the church record." I think 
a good many people have their names on the church 
record that have not got them in the Book of Life. You 



96 HEAVEN. 

may u^ve your name on twenty church records and not 
have it in the Book of Life. The question is, Have 
I been born of the Spirit? Have I been born 
again? Have I been born from above? Have I 
passed from death unto life ? If I have not, it is clearly 
taught that I will not enter into the kingdom of God. 
" E Kcept your righteousness exceed the righteousness of 
the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into 
the kingdom of God." That is what Christ said to the 
moi *Jists of his day. " Except ye become converted, and 
become as a little child " — that is really nothing in your 
own sight — "ye cannot see the kingdom of God." 
Heaven, some one has said, is filled with twice-born peo- 
ple — born of the flesh and born of the Spirit. 

We are told in this blessed book what causes joy in 
heaven. What causes joy in heaven is one sinner repent- 
ing — one sinner being born [into the kingdom of God. 
Only think that a man or woman, or even a little child, 
that is hero in this audienee to-day may cause joy in 
heaven by repenting and turning to God. 

The next thing we have got in heaven is the treas- 
ures. We will turn now to the Sermon on the Mount. 
You will find out what Christ says about treasures: 
" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where 
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break 
through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures 
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and 
where thieves do not break through nor steal; for 
where your treasure is there will your heart be also." 
If our treasures are earthly, we will be earthly minded; 
if our treasures are heavenly, we will be heavenly mind- 
ed. It does not take more than ten minutes to find out 
where a man's treasure is. Talk to a man who has his 
heart set on money and tell him about some business 
that he can go into to make a few hundred dolla«a« see 



HEAVEN. 97 

how quick his eye will light up. Talk to a politician; 
tell him how he can get a seat in the United States Sen- 
ate, see his eye light up. It does not take long to tell 
where a man's heart is. His heart is where his treasure 
is. If his treasure is down here you can soon tell. Talk 
to a lady of fashion — one of what they call the upper ten 
— that is, the world's idea of the upper ten. The upper 
ten, the best circle, is really up there around the throne. 
It is not down here on your avenues. The best people 
that ever trod this earth are in heaven; they are with 
the King. Take this so-called upper ten and talk to 
them about the latest fashion, the latest style of dressing 
the hair, the latest fashion of dress and clothes, and see 
their eye light up. They will talk about these things 
for hours; their hearts are there. But the fashion of 
this world passes away. If a man sets his heart upon 
anything on this earth he is going to be disappointed. 
The reason this country to-day is so full of disappoint- 
ed people is because they have been building for time 
instead of for eternity. 

A bedridden saint, one of those saints that God is pol- 
ishing up for his temple, was lying upon her bed watch- 
ing the birds as they came in the spring to build their 
nests, and one bird came and built its nest so very low 
that every day she said, " Oh, bird, build higher, build 
higher." But she could not make the bird understand, 
and it went on and built its nest very low. After the 
little birds were hatched she watched the mother bird 
feed them. One morning she looked out and saw that 
the nest was torn to pieces. The cat had destroyed it 
and killed the old bird and the young ones. What you 
and I want to do is to, build higher. 

Let us look at the first four verses of the third chap- 
ter of Paul's letter to the Colossians: a If ye then be 
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, 

Glory 7 



98" HEAVEN. 

where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your 
affection on things above, not on things on earth. For 
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye 
also appear with Him in glory." That is what Scrip- 
ture teaches. When our soldiers were in the army, they 
never thought of building palaces down there in the 
South. A tent was good enough for them. Now, you 
and I are pilgrims. We are travelers; we are only 
here a little while, and a tent is good enough for us. 
That is all Abraham had. The well watered plains of 
Sodom had no temptation for him. He had something 
better. I pity those men who are building these very 
fine mansions and laying the foundation so deep and 
broad, as though they were to liye forever. About the 
time they get ready to move in they are called away. 
Some of them are called away before they get in. They 
have gone to another world. 

When I was out on the Pacific coast, the first Sunday 
I was there I went to Sunday-school. It was a very 
rainy day and but few children were there. The super- 
intendent said to me that as so few were there he thought 
he would dismiss the school, and asked me if I didn't think 
it was a good idea. I told him I thought not; that we 
ought to make it interesting for those that did come. 
Then he said the teachers were not there. I told him 
to put them all in one class. He asked me if I would 
teach it. I asked him what the lesson was, and found it 
was this passage : "Lay up treasures for yourselves in 
heaven." I thought anybody could talk upon that, 
especially in California. There was a blackboard there, 
and I had written upon it, first, a list of earthly treasures 
as they were named by the school. I asked what the 
people of California thought most of. They said "gold," 
so we put down gold. " Anything else? n u Land." 



HBAVKN. 



99 



« Put down land." « What else ? n M Houses." " What 
else?" "Pleasure." "Put down pleasure." "What 
else?" "Honor." " Yes, that is correct. Put down 
honor. Any others? " Some one said "business," and 
that was put down. " Anything else ? " One little fel- 
low said " rum." I said, " Put that down," You laugh 
at it, but there are many men that will sell heaven with 
all its glory for a rum bottle. They worship a rum bot- 
tle. You will not have to go out of Cleveland to find 
men who bow down to a rum bottle. Then they went 
on naming other things — fast horses. That is a treas- 
ure. Some men think more of fast horses than they do 
of the kingdom of God. 

" Now," I said, let us look at the heavenly treasures 
and put them opposite. What is the very sweetest thing 
there is in heaven? " One little boy with his eyes danc- 
ing in their sockets said "Jesus." " That is right." I 
said, " we will put Him at the head of the list." " What 
is the next?" "Angels." I said: "Put that down. 
What next? " " The river of life, the crown, the crown 
of righteousness, the crown of glory, mansions," and so 
on, naming the many treasures. There was one teacher 
in that Sunday-school that was there who was an uncon- 
verted young man. He said he had come to California 
to make a fortune, and he said after we had all those 
treasures written down on the blackboard: "How blind 
I have been! I have been seeking for earthly treasures, 
and neglecting those heavenly treasures." And he was 
converted that very hour. 

Some time ago when I was going to New Orleans, 
two ladies got on the same train I did at Chicago, and 
took seats behmd me. One of the ladies lived at Cairo and 
the other at New Orleans; and the Cairo lady became 
very much attached to the New Orleans lady, and when 
we arived at Cairo she said, " I wish you would stop 



100 HEAVEN. 

over at Cairo and spend a few days with me." " Well, n 
the other lady replied, " I would like to, I would enjoy 
your society very much, but my trunks have all gone on 
the train ahead of me, and I haven't got clothes I would 
like to appear in society in. These clothes are good 
enough to travel in, you know." Ah, I took a hint. 
These clothes are good enough to travel in any how. 
I am on my way to heaven, and took in Cleveland on 
my route. We only stay here for a night, and pass on. 
We are traveling to the New Jerusalem. On a tomb- 
stone there was a beautiful thought. " The inn of a 
traveler to the New Jerusalem." We are travelers to 
the New Jerusalem, and if we don't find everything 
down here just as we want it we shall be satisfied then. 
We can afford to wait. We need not borrow trouble 
about life here. We want to lay up treasures in heaven. 

People make a mistake when they think the church is 
a place of rest. We are going to rest by and by. We 
don't want to be talking about rest down here. 

I want to call your attention next to the fact that our 
reward is in heaven, and not here. God's people make 
the great mistake of looking for a reward down here. 
They are still looking for a reward down here. Let us 
remember that the reward is beyond. I have noticed 
that that is the case with almost every one of God's 
people — they look for reward down here. God does not 
propose to reward his children here. He is to reward 
them up yonder. We are to work here. When we are 
done he will say: " Well done, good and faithful servant, 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." You will then 
have a seat at His right hand. The reward will be great, 
he says. If God calls the reward great, what kind of a 
reward will it be? If the great God says so, won't it be a 
wonderful reward? Instead of looking for reward and 
honor here, let us look beyond for it. See what Paul says 



HEAVEN. 101 

to Timothy, " For there will be for me a crown." He 

did not look for his crown here. 

When I read the life of Paul, it makes me ashamed 
of the Christianity of the present day. Talk about 
what we have suffered! Talk about what we have done! 
I think it would do every member of the church good to 
spend six months reading the life of Paul, and to see 
what he had to go through. He had been beaten four 
times, and received thirty-nine stripes upon the bare 
back. If one of us should get even one stripe now, how 
many volumes would be written on the martyrdom? 
What a whine there would be! It was nothing for Paul 
to be beaten with thirty-nine stripes. Did any one say 
to Paul: "You have been beaten already four times 
before, and now they are going to bring that scourge 
upon your back as many times again perhaps ; had you 
not better go off down to Europe, and rest for six 
months until this persecution dies out?" The appeal 
would pass him by unheeded. " I have but one aim, 
one thing to hope for. I press toward the mark of my 
high calling in Christ Jesus." These earthly afflictions, 
what were they? He never complained of them. In- 
stead of giving up his opinions and his hope, he was 
willing to stand his stripes and his miseries, again and 
again. And it was no trifling matter, these beatings he 
received. Yet he received them all, and would not deny 
the faith that the mercy and power of God had wrought in 
him. If you allow me the expression, the devil had his 
match when he got hold of Paul. Not all he could do 
would give him the upper hand of Paul, and separate 
him from the love of God. He had his reward in view; 
and he always, scorning what the world could do to 
him, pressed toward that reward. He knew that all his 
sufferings here would be wiped away, and joy and peace 
be his when he wore the crown for which he had so 



102 HEAVEN. 

bravely fought. And how many are working for these 
crowns at the present day? How much would they 
suffer now for a like reward that awaited this mighty 
warrior? His enemies one time took him out and stoned 
him like the martyr Stephen. Think of the torment he 
experienced, the pain that he must have suffered, as these 
stones were hurled at him. So great was the anger of 
those who were thus around him that they left him for 
dead when they got through with him. See his head 
all swollen up; see the bruises upon his body and his 
limbs; see the ugly scars and the gaping wounds that he 
carried. He was hardly brought to life again; and 
for a long time thereafter you could see him with his 
injured head and black eye on the corners of the streets, 
and yet not frightened by any means, but preaching the 
glorious gospel of his God and Master Jesus Christ. 
He went to Corinth, was not afraid, but preached there 
for eighteen months ; and in all his ministrations, and in 
all this, he had to rely upon himself. He had no influen- 
tial committee to meet him on his arrival at the station, 
and conduct him to a fine hotel, and make all arrange- 
ments about his expenses. There was no station in 
those days; when he did arrive, he came unannounced 
and on foot. And instead of a splendid hotel to go to, 
his first care was to go himself, walk around all the 
streets and find cheap lodgings, in some alley, where he 
could go after he had left off preaching for the day to 
make tents, to which trade he had been brought up. 
And then, after all his preaching, and all his labors, 
what reward did he receive ? Well, there was a sort of a 
committee, and they said they would pay him off. Did 
they give him some testimonial and a large sum in 
money then? What they did do instead of presenting 
him with, say a thousand dollars in gold, this com- 
mittee that I speak of took him down to a cross street 



HEAVEN, 103 

and gave him thirty-nine stripes. That is the way they 
paid him off. That was the way they treated this 
mighty fighter, a preacher that turned the world upside 
down. 

Talk about Alexander making the world tremble at 
the tread of his armies! Talk about Napoleon shaking 
the world to its centre, when the powers knew he had 
gathered his army round about him! Why these have 
all passed away; but the words of Paul, of the despised 
tent-maker, make the world tremble even to this day. 
He talks about being in peril among robbers. Well, 
what did the robbers find on him? No money, no 
jewelry — nothing. What treasures he had, he had 
placed them above their reach, he had put them in 
heaven, where thieves do not break through or steal. 
The robbers got nothing from him, though he was richer 
than any man at the present day. Not a man who has 
lived since Paul is richer than he was. Three times, 
again he says, he suffered shipwreck; also a day and a 
night he was in the deep. He had been subjected to 
perils by water, to perils of robbers, to perils brought 
about by his own countrymen. Besides these, he 
experienced perils of the wilderness; perils among 
false brethren — ah! that must have been the hardest. 
He was weary, he was in pain; but none of these things 
moved him. Thank God the apostle was a warrior; and 
would to God the church had a thousand like him at the 
present day. Nothing was able to battle him down. 
Not even the newspaper of the day, if they had one, 
pitching into him every day, would have caused him a 
moment's thought. It might have called him a poor, 
deluded man, might have said to him, " Oh, you poor 
fool." For none of these things did he care. He 
looked above and beyond them. He knew there was a 
glorious reward awaiting him. 



104 HEAVEN. 

And so the mighty warrior went on to fight for his 
Master, But at last he had to flee; and to escape, he 
was let down the walls in a basket. He goes to fight 
elsewhere. Driven out of one place, he does not des- 
pair; and that is the spirit we want to-day. He was 
always willing to receive the stripes and the torments, 
and to suffer everything the world could heap upon him 
for the cause of Christ. His enemies again gave him 
thirty-nine stripes. Well, he was used to it. His back 
had not perhaps got well before he received this punish- 
ment. After they had got through with him, they cast 
him and Silas into prison. No sooner had they got in, 
instead of being frightened at what they had received, they 
began to worship the God for whom they had suffered. 
Paul says to Silas: " Come, Silas, let us praise God and 
have prayers." And they opened their worship by 
singing, perhaps, the forty-sixth Psalm. After that they 
had prayers and called upon God for his protection. And 
as soon as they had said " Amen," their God responded 
to their cries of help, and tKe whole prison shook, and 
there was a great commotion. Yes, that was a queer 
place to sing praises in-— a prison; and it was just after 
he had received the stripes. Why, I dare say if Mr. 
Sankey should have only one stripe upon his naked 
back, he would not feel much like singing! But this 
man had received thirty-nine. He was as much at home 
with his God in prison, as he was out of it. He could 
praise him as well behind bolts and bars as he could in 
the synagogue. He knew what his reward would be. 
He knew the grave would be his immediate reward; 
but he had faith in the great hereafter; he had a crown 
and a reward that would not pass away. Yes, do you 
think that God would let him suffer like that without 
rewarding him? If we suffer persecution for Christ's 
sake, great will be our reward. Paul's sufferings were 



HEAVEN. 105 

the cause of the conversion of the Philippian jailor. I 
suppose he was the first convert in Europe. 

Look at him again in Rome. The time had come for 
his departure; Nero had signed the order for his execu- 
tion, and he is being taken out to be beheaded. Ask 
him now, at this moment, when death is but a little way 
off, if he is sorry that he has suffered for the Son of 
God. Ask him if he would like to recant to save his 
head. I can imagine how he would look if you should 
ask him such a question as that. They are going to take 
him two miles out of the city to the place of execution. 
He walks with a steady, unfaltering step. He wavers 
not, nor looks aside. His gaze is fixed upon the reward 
of his high calling in Christ Jesus. And he writes to 
his friend Timothy, u Henceforth there is laid up for me 
a crown." You could not shake him in his faith. Thank 
God, at this dread moment, he kept his word with Jesus. 
He had never preached any false doctrine. He had only 
preached Christ crucified, and had manfully fought under 
his banner like a faithful soldier, to this, the end of his 
life. "Good-by," you can imagine him saying to 
Timothy ; " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown, 
and I am going to win it." As he walked through the 
streets of Rome, I tell you Rome never had such a 
conqueror. Not all her mighty men of war, nor all her 
generals and statesmen and orators, had risen to the 
supreme height that Paul had reached at this moment, 
He was going to receive a prize that would eclipse all 
the trophies of war, and wit, and learning. But at last 
he approaches the fatal spot. He is placed in the posi- 
tion that he had to take; the executioner makes him 
ready, and at the given signal the blow descends, his 
head comes off, and his spirit is lifted into the golden 
chariot, and is borne to the pearly gates of heaven. As 
he approaches the celestial portals, the battlements of 



106 HEAVEN. 

heaven are crowded with the saints that Paul by his 
preaching had sent before him. Ah ! how they welcome 
him. He is borne on toward the great white throne to 
receive his reward. The bells of heaven are set a-ring- 
ing, and hosannas are chanted by the choir of paradise. 
He comes near the throne, and he hears the great voice 
saying: " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord," and the saints now 
gather around him, and greet, and bear witness for him 
to the Master he had so faithfully served. One would 
say: "That sermon that you preached to the Galatians 
wrought a change of heart in me, and I have been 
chosen to take my place among the elect." Another 
would say, " That lecture that you delivered at Thessa- 
lonica converted me." Another: "Paul, that appeal 
that you made at Corinth touched my wicked soul; I 
began to worship the Jesus whom you preached', and 
here I am among the angels." Oh, what a reward was 
that. Was it not worth all the cares, troubles, anxieties, 
sufferings, torments, and death he had gone through? 
Men murmur at the little crosses they have to endure 
here; but they forget that if they be faithful the Lord 
will reward them by-and-by. 



WHAT SEEK YE? 



I have for my subject this afternoon a question, a com- 
mand and an invitation. In the first chapter of John and 
the 38th verse, it is related that Christ turned to two of 
John the Baptist's disciples, about four o'clock in the 
afternoon, who were following Him, and said to them : 
"What seek ye?" The first words that fell from the 
lips of the Son of God, as he commenced his ministry — 
that is John's account of it — were : " What seek ye ? n 

There were all classes of people following Christ 
while he was upon earth. There were some that went 
to see Him just out of a morbid curiosity — they had no 
other motive. There were some who went for the fishes 
and the loaves. There was another class that followed 
Him that they might get mere temporal relief; that they 
might get some friend healed. Then there was another 
class followed Him that they might entangle him in 
some conversation; they were constantly putting difficult 
questions to Him in hopes that they might get Him to 
say something against the law of Moses that they might 
condemn Him and put Him to death. There were some 
that went just to see, and others that went to be seen. 
Here and there were some that followed Him for just 
what He was to them, and they always got a blessing. 

Now I contend that all the men and women in Cleve- 
land are seeking something. The question that I want to 
press home upon you to-day is, " What seek ye? n What 
brought you out here this afternoon ? I venture to say 
if this audience could be sifted to find out who had come 

107 



108 WHAT SEEK YE? 

to get a blessing, it would be found to be a very small 
number; there would be vacant chairs enough; there 
would be no trouble about room for the people that 
wanted to come. 

Although eighteen hundred years have rolled away 
since Christ put that question to those disciples, human 
nature has not changed. You will find the same classes 
dow. There are some that have come just out of curiosity 
—just merely to see and to be seen. Some have come 
because they have been persuaded by a godly mother to 
come. They do not come because they wanted to, but 
because a mother, or a wife, or a little child had persuaded 
them, and they have come just to please them. 

One man in Philadelphia got up at the young converts' 
meeting and said he did not come to hear the preaching 
or the singing. He said that a friend of his got there one 
night at the opening of the depot building, and he said 
he thought it was a remarkable scene to see eleven 
thousand chairs all vacant. JHe said he would like to 
see eleven thousand chairs in one building. So he went 
up late in the afternoon or early in the evening. He 
was the first one there, and the moment the doors were 
open he rushed in to see the empty chairs. That was 
what brought him there. Pretty high motive, wasn't 
it? He was a drinking man. The text that night was, 
"Where art thou?" and he saw something else before 
the meeting was over. He saw himself a poor, blind, 
miserable, wretched sinner. I hope some one that 
has come here to day out of curiosity will get his eyes 
opened, and if you do you may get something you 
did not come for — something worth more than all this 
world to you. 

When we were in London a man was going by Agri- 
cultural Hall, and it was raining pretty hard, and he 
dropped in just to get out of the rain, and the word 



WHAT SEEK YE? 109 

reached him where he stood, and he was convicted and 
converted. 

It is astonishing what motives bring a class of people 
together. You know and God knows what brought 
you here. What is the motive? Have you come 
merely to gratify curiosity. Have you come to gratify 
some friends? " What seek ye? " 

I can imagine some of you say, "I did not come 
here to hear you preach. I came to hear the singing. 
I am very fond of music, and I would like to hear the 
singing, and I just wish that I was out of here; I don't 
like sermons; I just hate them." Well, I am glad you 
came for that motive, and I am thankful there is gospel 
enough in some of these hymns to save you. So if you 
did not come for any higher motive than to see or be 
seen, or hear the singing, we are glad to see you. But 
if you just change the motive and say, " I want a bless- 
ing. I want God to bless me. I want Him above 
everything else," this will be the happiest day you ever 
spent on earth. 

Now, let us take the question home. What brought 
us here? "What seek ye?" Have you come to get 
Jesus Christ? If you have you can find Him. You 
have not got to go up to bring Him down. You have 
not got to go down to bring Him up. He is right 
here. 

I want to tell you another thing: It is a command for 
you to seek him, and I want to lay that command 
right across every man's path here to-day. " Seek first 
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all 
things else shall be added." What man puts first God 
puts last; or reversed, what God puts first man puts 
last 

If I should ask a good many of you to-day why you 
do not seek the kingdom of God, you would make me 



HO WHAT SEEK YE? 

this answer, " Well, I have a good many other things 
to attend to. My business has got to be looked after; 
times are hard; times have been hard for the last five 
years ; and don't you know, Mr. Moody, a man is worse 
than an infidel if he don't provide for his family ? " So 
he is; no doubt about that, but then here is a com- 
mand. God never makes any mistakes. He does not 
command us to do something that He does not give us 
power to do. If He commands all men now everywhere 
to repent, He means it. If he commands me to seek 
first the kingdom of God, I am to seek it first; I am to 
do that above everything else. 

I am one of those that firmly believe that a man is 
just as good a business man in whom the kingdom 01 
God is set up, as a man that goes on serving the world, 
living for the w r orld. I believe a man is not fit to live — 
is not qualified for business — until he has obeyed God. 
I believe God turns the ways of the wicked upside 
down, and hedges up their way. Some one will say, 
" I have seen some of the wickedest men in this country 
get very rich." So have I. But then a man may get 
very rich and not be very prosperous after all. All 
is not gold that glitters. A man may have great 
wealth and not have contentment. A man may have 
great wealth and not have peace of mind. A man may 
have great wealth and be a stranger to rest. If I 
wanted to find a skeleton, I would go up here on your 
fine avenues, into some of those palaces there. You 
have not got to go down into your brothels and dark dens 
of iniquity, and your wretched homes, made dark by 
sin. You will find them there, I admit; but you will 
find them also in the homes of the fashionable, and in 
the palaces of the wealthy. There is hardly a family 
in the city that has not a skeleton in it. I believe that 
the reason that there is so much darkness and misery in 



WHAT SEEK YE? Ill 

this world is because men and women go contrary to 
what God tells them. About the last thing a man thinks 
of seeking is the kingdom of God. If you talk with a 
great many they will say they must attend to their busi- 
ness. They will tell you that when they get settled in 
life and have time, then they will attend to their soul's 
interests. 

Now, when we start out in life, it is better that we 
start right. When God tells me to run, I am to run. 
When He tells me to walk, I am to walk. If He tells 
me to believe, I am to believe. If He tells me to seek 
first the kingdom of God, I must do it. No man or 
woman is justified in going out of this hall to-day without 
seeking the kingdom of God. If you go out of this hall 
without doing it, you trample one of God's commands un- 
der your feet. Some people think they never break a 
commandment. We have something besides the deca- 
logue. This commandment is just as binding as the com- 
mandment, "Thou shalt not steal." It is a command from 
God, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." Man says, "I 
will not do it. I will seek for pleasure. I will seek for 
wealth. I will seek for honor, I will seek for fame. I will 
seek for everything else before I will seek the kingdom of 
God." Is not that true? Don't we see that all around us? 
They are just living in disobedience. You know if you 
have a child that disobeys you, you will not want that 
child to prosper. You do not want your child to prosper 
in disobedience. But when a child is obedient, then you 
love to see the child prosper. Now, as long as we live 
in disobedience to God, how can we expect to prosper? 
I do not believe we would have had these hard times it 
it had not been for sin and iniquity. Look at the money 
that is drank up! The money that is spent for tobacco! 
That is ruining men — ruining their constitutions. We 
live in a land flowing with milk and honey. God has 



112 WHAT SEEK YE? 

olessed this nation; yet men complain of hard times. I 
tell you there is nothing so extravagant as sin. If a man 
would seek the kingdom of God first you would not be 
troubled much about the things of this world. You would 
not be troubled about your clothing and about what you 
would eat. That is about all we need. You may have 
the wealth of this world, but you can't take a penny 
away with you. You hear it said that a man died worth 
millions. The fact is when he dies he is not worth any- 
thing. The wealth that a man may have then is not of 
this world. Lay up treasures in heaven, not down here. 
You may have millions here and enter eternity a beggar 
if you have not become rich toward God. 

I remember, a number of years ago, I was working 
out in the field. It was before I left home, and I was a 
little wild in those days. A man told me something I 
did not understand ; it was a mystery. We were hoeing 
corn, and I noticed he was weeping. Says I, " What is 
the trouble ?" and he went on and told me. It sounded 
strange then. I did not understand it. He said when 
he left home to make his fortune it was a beautiful morn- 
ing when he left his mother's door, and she gave him 
this text of Scripture : " Seek first the kingdom God and 
His righteousness, and all these things shall be added 
unto you." He said he paid no attention to it. He said 
there were no railroads in those days, and he had to 
walk. He walked from town to town, and the first 
Sunday he was away he went into a little country church, 
and the minister got up and preached from the text, 
"Seek first the kingdom of God." He said to himself, 
u That is my mother's text. I wonder if that man knows 
me." He thought he was preaching it for him. But he 
said to himself that he was not going to seek the 
kingdom of God yet; that he was going to get rich, and 
when he got rich and was settled down in life he was 



WHAT SEEK YE? 113 

going to attend to his soul's interest — just exactly what 
God told him not to do. He said the sermon made a 
deep impression upon him, but that he had made up his 
mind that he would not seek God then. He could not 
get any work in that town, and he went to another, and 
another, and at last he got some work, and he went to 
church in the town, and he hadn't been going there a 
great while before he heard a sermon from the text, 
" Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteouness." 
He thought God was calling him, and the sermon and 
the text made a deep impression on his mind; but he 
calmly and deliberately said : " I will not seek the 
kingdom of God now, I will wait until I get rich." He 
said he finally got through working in that town and he 
went to another, and another, and at last he got work in 
another town. He said he went to church — he went 
because his mother had taught him; he said he didn't 
feel easy when he stayed away ; he said he did not go to 
get any blessing ; just w T ent because he had been educated 
to go. What was his surprise, he said, when the minister 
got up in the pulpit and preached from the text, " Seek 
first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added unto you." He said he 
thought surely God was calling him; and he said the 
Spirit strove mightily with him; but he just fought it — 
made up his mind that he would not become a Christian 
until he had become settled in life ; and he said that all 
the sermons he heard since made no more of an im- 
pression upon him than on that stone, and he struck it 
with a hoe. It seemed to him as if the Spirit of God 
had left him. But I could not talk to him. I w r as 
a stranger to Christ. But soon after I went off 
to Boston. When I was converted, almost the 
first man that came into my mind was that neighbor, and 
I made up my mind when I went home I would tall* 

Glory 8 ■ 



114 WHAT SEEK YK? 

with him and tell him about the Savior. When I got 
home I made inquiries, and my mother said, "Why, didn't 
I write you about him ? " Write me w r hat ?" " Why, 
he has gone to the insane asylum, and if any of the 
neighbors go up to see him he will point his finger at 
him and will say, " Young man seek first the kingdom 
of God and His righteousness.'" Reason had reeled and 
tottered from its throne, but the text was still there. 
God had sent that arrow down into his soul. Long years 
had rolled away and he could not draw it out of his soul. 
The next time I went home they told me he was up on 
his farm, that he was idiotic. I went up to his house, 
and found him in the rocking chair; he was rocking 
backwards and forwards, and as I spoke to him he gave 
me that idiotic look — that vacant look; and I called him 
by name, and said, " Don't you know me ?" He pointed 
his finger at me and said, " Young man, seek first the 
kingc om of God and his righteousness." He did not 
know me — mind all gone, but the text still there. A 
little while after he died. He lies slumbering in the 
cemetery where my father is buried ; and when I go to 
visit that cemetery, as I go by that grave, it seems as if 
I could hear that text coming up from that grave, " Seek 
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added unto you." My friends, you 
and I cannot afford to disobey God. We cannot afford 
to calmly and coolly and deliberately say, " I will not 
obey." Look around us. Men are snatched away sud- 
denly, and they just pass into eternity. Look at that 
accident only a few hours ago on the Michigan Central — 
that night train passing on with great "rapidity, and in a 
moment they passed into eternity. 

My friend, if you sleep to-night without seeking the 
kingdom of God, you are disobeying God. It is a com- 
mand from God Almighty to every soul here. We have 



WHAT SEEK YB? 

no right to defer it; no right to say that we will seek 
the kingdom of God to-morrow. To-morrow does not 
belong to us. To-day — now — is the day of salvation. 

You will find in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, "Seek 
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon Him 
while He is near. n It is not to seek feeling. It is not 
to seek a sentiment, nor some dogma, nor some creed, 
but it is to seek the Lord Himself. u Seek ye the Lord 
while he may be found. Call ye upon him while He 
is near." That is the exhortation. God exhorts you to 
seek Him while He may be found. 

Some one may ask, " How seek Him ? " Seek Him 
with your heart, not with your head. The trouble with 
a great many is, they seek him with their head, and they 
never find Him. It is not a new head, but a new heart, 
we want. What do you mean by seeking God with 
your heart? I will tell you: When a man goes into a 
thing with his heart you can soon tell it. He will be in 
earnest. Go into the gold regions, and you will find 
that the miners down in the mines have their hearts 
there. They are terribly in earnest. Go learn a lesson 
of the world. See how men seek for wealth! Look at 
these politicians over the State of Ohio. They can 
hardly wait until the Sabbath rolls away to begin their 
work to-morrow. We want men to seek their soul's 
salvation as they seek for wealth. There is one thing 
that the Lord hates, and that is half-heartedness. No 
man ever found God with half a heart. 

I said to a man some time time ago, " I will tell you 
when you will be converted. I can tell you the day and 
the hour." " Well, I would like to have you. I didn't 
know that ydu were a prophet" " Well," says I, " I 
am not a prophet, but I can tell you when you will be 
converted." " I would like to have you." u Well," 
says I, " when you search for God with all your heart you 



116 WHAT SEEK YE? 

will find him, and not before." O, my friends, if God 
is worth having He is worth seeking for with all our 
hearts, and when men seek Him with all their heart 
they find Him. 

I am tired of hearing people talk about not having any 
objection to being saved. I said to a man some time 
ago, "Are you a Christian?" " No." " Well, wouldn't 
you like to be?" "Well," said he, "I have no objec- 
tion." " Well," said I, "you will never find him with 
that spirit. God never adopts men with that spirit." 
I tell you that if we are going to get into the kingdom 
of God we have got to be in earnest. 

I read an account some time ago of a vessel being 
wrecked at sea, and there were not enough life boats for 
all on board of the vessel, and some were swimming 
around in the water trying to get into life boats, and one 
man with a great effort swam to* a boat and reached out 
his right hand. They said they did not dare to take any 
more in. They begged him to let go but he would not. 
You know how a drowning man will grasp at a straw. 
A man took a sword and cut off the man's hand, and 
the man swam up a second time and he laid hold of that 
boat with his left hand and they cut off the left hand ; 
and with both hands cut off he swam up to that boat 
stern and seized it with his teeth. It touched their 
hearts. They could not cut his head off and they drew 
him on the boat. He saved his life because he was in 
earnest. If it is the right hand off with it; if it is the 
left one off with it. The kingdom of God is worth 
more than all the world. O, may God wake us up to- 
day and show us the importance of seeking the kingdom 
of God with all our hearts. 

Now I want to ask this audience one question: Do 
you believe that the Lord can be found here to-day? 
Do you believe that a sinner, a man that has been at 



WHAT SEEK YE ? 117 

enmity with God for twenty years, can come in here 
to-day and find the Lord precious to his soul ? Do you 
believe that? Do you men believe that? Do you 
ministers believe it? If men will seek Him with 
all their hearts they can find Him before they go 
out of this building, Do you believe that? Do you 
believe you can get eternal life and live with God for- 
ever by just seeking for it? You profess to believe it, 
but you do not believe it. If you did you would seek 
for it. If Jehovah should send Gabriel down here to 
say to any one in this building that you might have any 
one thing you asked for, I venture to say there would be 
only one cry — a cry that would ring through the build- 
ing. "Eternal life!" Everything else would fly into 
the dim past. You would not ask for money. If there 
was only one thing to ask for, you would ask for eternal 
life. It is a great thing to live forever. There is not 
anything to be compared with eternal life. Now, if 
eternal life can be found here to-day by asking for it, 
would you not advise every man, woman and child 
in this house to seek the kingdom of God? Oh! my 
friends, seek ye the Lord! He has been seeking for 
you these many years. Seek Him with your heart, and 
you will find him. 



BLESSED HOPE. 



I have selected for my subject this afternoon, the 
blessed Hope. We are told to be ready to give a rea- 
son for the hope we have within us, and what we want 
to do is to find out what our hope is. I believe there are 
a great many people that are hoping and hoping, when 
they have no ground for hope. I don't know of any 
better way to find out whether we have a true ground for 
the hope we have within us than to look in scripture to 
see what the scripture has to say. 

Now, faith is one thing and hope is another. When 
hope takes the place of faith it is a snare. Faith is to 
work and to trust. Some one has said that life is to en- 
joy and obey and be like God ; but hope is to wait and 
sing, to wait and expect; in other words, that hope is 
the laughter of faith. I heard a very godly man once 
say that joy was like the larks — they sang in the morn- 
ing when it was light, but hope was like the nightingale 
that sang in the dark ; so that hope was really better 
than joy. 

Most anyone can sing in the morning when everything 
is bright, and everything going well : but hope sings in 
the dark, in the mist and the fog — looks through all the 
mist and darkness into the clear day. Faith lays hold 
of what is in the scripture ; faith is laying hold of that 
that is within the vale, and what is in heaven for us. 

Now, we cannot get on any better without hope than 
we can without faith. The farmer who sows his seed, 
sows it in the hope of a harvest ; the merchant buys his 

118 



BLESSED HOPE. 119 

goods in the hope to find customers, and the student toils 
in the hope that he will reap by-and-by. 

Now, I want to call your attention to the three classes 
of people that are gathered here to-day. They are those 
that have no hope, those that have a false hope, and those 
that have a good hope. I do not know that there is any 
Dne here to-day that would come under the first head. 
It is pretty hard to find any one in this w T orld that has 
not some hope. Once in a while you will come across a 
person that has no hope in this life or the life to come. 
It is from that class that our suicides come. When a 
man and woman get to that point, that he or she has no 
hope in this life, they become utterly ^discouraged, cast 
down, no hope in the life to come, believe when they die 
that is the last of them, atheists in their views, believe 
there is no hereafter — they put an end to their existence. 

The point I want to call your attention to in the class 
that has no earthly hope, is this: A child is sick; a doc- 
tor is called, and he looks at the child and says there is 
no hope; but the moment the mother loses hope of the 
child living in this world another hope comes up — she 
hopes to see the child again in another world. Hope 
comes and cheers that mother in trouble. 

When Mr. Curtin was governor of Pennsylvania, a 
young man in that State was convicted of murder and 
was sentenced to be hung. His friends tried in every 
way they could to get him released. The young man 
was holding on to a hope that he would be released; 
they could not make him believe that he had to die. At 
last f he governor sent for George H. Stew T art and said to 
him,. "I wish you would go down to that jail and tell 
that young man there is no hope; tell him that there is 
not une ray of hope ; that on the day appointed he must 
die; that I am not going to pardon him." Mr. Stewart 
said when he went into the jail the young man's counte- 



120 BLESSED HOPE, 

nance lit up and he says, "Ah, I am sure you brought me 
good news. What does it say?" Mr. Stewart said he 
would never be the bearer of such a message again. He 
Baid that he laid down beside him on the iron bed and 
said, "My friend, I am sorry to tell you there is not any 
hope. The governor says you must die at the appointed 
time. He will not pardon you. He sent me down here 
to take away this false hope you have got, and to tell 
you you have to die." He said the young man fainted 
away, and it was some time before they could bring him 
to. The poor man's heart was broken. He had been 
holding on to a false hope. In that case, that young man 
was not without hope, because he could repent, for God 
does forgive murderers, and become a child of God — be- 
come a saved man. Hope comes right in there. Even 
these men that think that they have no hope — there is 
hope for them if they will only turn to the God of hope, 
and to the God of the Bible. 

That is only one class. Job speaks about days pass- 
ing without hope; but then he does not mean that there 
was not any hope beyond this life, because Job says in 
another place, " I know my Redeemer liveth, and th^t 
I shall see him." He was like Paul. He knew in 
whom he believed. He had a hope in the darkness and 
fog — when those waves of persecution came dashing up 
against him. And in the midst of the storm and conflict 
you could hear Job cry out, " I know my Redeemer 
liveth." He had a hope. So I say it is hard to find any 
one that comes under the first head. Most people have 
some sort of hope. 

Now I come to the second head: people that 
have a false hope. I contend that a man or woman that 
is resting in false hope is really worse off than one who 
has no hope in this world ; because if a man wakes up to 
the fact that he has no hope, there is a chance of rous- 



BLESSED HOPE. 121 

ing him to seek a hope that is worth having. The mo- 
ment you begin to talk with these men that have a false 
hope, they run right off into their fortress and say, " I 
am all right, I have got a hope." You can hardly find 
a man or woman in all Cleveland to-day that has not a 
hope. But how manj^ are resting in a false hope — a 
miserable, treacherous hope that is good for nothing. 
You can't find a drunkard that has not a hope. He 
hangs on to the rum bottle with one hand and hope with 
the other; but his hope is a miserable lie — it is a refuge 
of lies that he has hid behind. You can't find a harlot 
that walks the streets of Cleveland but that has some 
hope. You can hardly find a thief but that has some 
hope. 

Now, what we want to do is to examine ourselves and 
see whether we have a hope that will stand the test of 
the Judgment We want to know whether we have a 
true hope or a false hope. If it is a false hope the quick- 
er we find it out the better. We don't want to be rest- 
ing in a false hope. That has caused nearly all the mis- 
chief we have had in this country during the past few 
years. All these defaulters have come from that class. 
They were trusting in a false hope. They said, " I will 
take a little from the bank or from my employer. I will 
just overdraw my account a few thousand dollars, but I 
will replace it." But they went on drawing out and 
drawing out, and this false hope kept saying, " I can 
make it all right in a few days." They were led on and 
on by false hope until at last they got beyond hope and 
could not pay it back. They were ruined. They were 
not only ruined — it would be a good thing if they stop- 
ped there — but look at their wives and their children and 
their relatives, their parents and their loved ones that 
they have ruined. They didn't intend to become ruined 
men. They didn't intend to bring a blight upon their 



122 BLESSED HOPE. 

families and upon their prospects here. A false hope led 
them on step by step. 

Now, my friends, let us be honest with ourselves to- 
day and ask ourselves honestly before God and man v 
" What is my hope? " Well there is a lady up there in 
the gallery says, " I joined the Methodist church ten 
years ago." Very well, suppose you did ; what is your 
hope to-day? " Well, my hope is all right; I joined the 
church." But that is not going to stand the light of 
eternity. It don't say that you have got to join some 
church. A man or woman may belong to a church that 
have not the spirit of Jesus Christ. 

Yes, and another one says over there, " I have a bet- 
ter hope than that; I belong to the Congregational 
church, and go out to all the meetings." A person may 
go to all the meetings and not have a true hope. Do 
you know that? If you allow the meetings to take the 
place of Jesus Christ and let the church come in the 
denomination that you belong to, and take the place of 
Jesus Christ, you are resting on a rotten foundation, and 
you are building your house on a sandy foundation, and 
when the storms come the house will fall. There is 
nothing but Jesus Christ that will do. But tfcese false 
hopes will be swept away by and by. God's hail will 
sweep away the refuges of lies. It says in the eleventh 
chapter of Proverbs and seventh verse, " The hope of 
the unrighteous man perisheth." Now, if I belong to 
the church and am unrighteous, I may have a hope, but 
that is going to perish, and it may be I will not find it 
out until it is too late to get a good hope. It is a good 
deal better to find it out here to-day when I have a 
chance to repent of my sins and turn to God and get a 
true hope than it is to go on with my eyes closed in the 
delusion that I am coming out all right. 

There is another passage here, in Job, twenty-seventh 



BLESSED KOPE, 123 

chapter and eighth verse : " For what is the hope of the 
hypocrite though he hath gained, when God taketh 
away his soul?" What is his hope good for? The 
hope of the hypocrite is not good for anything. A man 
may gain by his hypocrisy ; a man may put on the garb 
of religion and profess to be what he is not, and may 
gain by it; there is no doubt of that; some do that, and 
they gain a little ; but what shall it profit a man if he 
does gain by his hypocrisy, and God taketh away his 
soul? His hope is gone. It was a treacherous hope. 
It was good for nothing. 

"But then," you may say, "I am not an unrighteous man ; 
I don't come under that head at all, and I am no hypo- 
crite." Well, I am afraid a good many of us that think 
we are not hypocrites are more or less hypocrites after 
all. The trouble is, men are trying to pass themselves 
off for more than they are worth. They are trying to 
make people believe they are better than they really 
are. God wants honesty. God wants downright 
uprightness, if you will allow me the expression. He 
wants us to be truthful and upright in all our transac- 
tions. If we are not, our profession don't help us. You 
may belong to this church or to that church. You may 
say your prayers, and you may go through the forms of 
religion, but it will not help you. What is the hope ol 
the hypocrite when God shall take away his soul? 
Suppose he has gained by his hypocrisy, there is not a 
thing, I believe, that God detests more than he does 
hypocrisy. He detests that sin more than he does all 
others. Jesus tore away the false hope of some of his 
disciples and told them, " Except your righteousness 
exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, 
ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God." Ah, 
there will be many a man and many a woman, I am 



124 BLJRSS5D HOPS* 

afraid, by and by, who will wake up and find their hope 
has been a false one, after all. 

Then there is another hope that is false. Men say, 
M I think God is very merciful, and that it will come out 
all right in the end." God has declared with an oath that 
He will not clear the guilty. What folly it is for a 
man to stand up and say, " I know I swear now and 
then; but then God don't mean anything when He says 
I shan't swear. God is only winking at sin. It will 
come out all right. The blasphemer, the drunkard, the 
libertine, and the man who is vile and polluted in heart 
will be just the same at the end of the route. That is 
my hope." Well, it is a false hope. If there is a drunk- 
ard here to-day, let me tell you that your hope is per- 
fectly worthless, because God says that no drunkard 
shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. That we find 
not only in the Old Testament but in the New. And 
if there is a man here that sells liquor — that is party to 
the hellish act of putting the bottle in his neighbor's hand, 
there is not any hope for him. I don't care how much 
money you give to help build your churches. I don't 
care if you have the best pew in one of your large 
churches, and walk down the broad aisle every Sunday 
with your wife and children and take your seat there. 
" Woe be to the man that putteth the bottle to his neigh- 
bor's lips." God has pronounced a curse against that 
man. Things look altogether different when we stand 
before the Judge of all the earth. 

Yes, but then there is another man. He says, "I can 
go on as I am, and by and by when I am sick, I can 
repent on my death bed." I think that is a false hope. 
And let me say, I think there is any quantity of lying 
in the sick room, a good many false hopes held out to 
the sick. Here is a person dying, and the doctor comes 
in and ht \nows very well that the disease is fatal, and 



BLESSED HOPE. 125 

knows that person can't live ten days, ana ne says, " I 
think you will be well and out in a few days — in the 
course of thirty days." He knows very well it is death. 
They say to these consumptives when they see that 
awful look in the face — when they see his form is wast- 
ing, they say, " Well, I think you will be out again in 
the spring; when the flowers begin to blossom and 
nature begins to unfold itself you will be out again," 
when they know it is downright lying, Oh, the false hopes 
that are held out to sick and the dying ! Then at the 
funeral people w T ill stand up and pronounce a eulogy 
over a man that died in his sins when there is not a 
chance for his soul. God says, " The soul that sinneth 
it shall die." He has not sought eternal liffe. He has 
spurned the gift of God and trampled the Bible under 
his feet. Look at the lying at funerals — false hopes that 
are held out. What God wants is to have us real, as 
He is real, and if our hope is not a hope that will stand 
the test of eternity, then the quicker we find it out the 
better. 

Then there is another false hope, which I think is 
worse, perhaps, than any other, and that is that a man 
can repent beyond the grave. There is a class of people 
who say, " I can go on in my sins and live as I am living, 
and I can repent beyond the grave." Now, if there is 
a chance for a man to repent beyond the grave, I can't 
find it between the lids of the Bible. I believe that if a 
man dies in his sin he is banished from God, and I 
believe that when Jesus Christ said, " If ye die in your 
sins, where I am ye cannot come," he meant what he 
said. 

So, if our hope is false, let us find it out to-day. Let 
us be honest w r ith ourselves, and ask God to show it to 
us. If our hope is not on the solid rock if we are 
building our house on the sand, let us find it out. Yqu 



126 BLESSED HOPE. 

may say, " My hope is as good as yours. My house is 
as good-looking house as yours." That may be. It 
might be a better-looking house than mine. But the 
important thing is the foundation. What we want is to 
be sure that we have a good foundation. A man may 
build up a very good character, but he may not have it 
on a good foundation. If he is building a house on the 
sand, when storm and trials comes, down will come all 
his hopes. A false hope is worse than no hope. If you 
have a false hope to-day, make up your mind that you 
will not rest until you reach a hope that is worth 
having. 

Now, here is a test that I think we can put to our- 
selves. If we have got the spirit of Jesus Christ, our 
life will be like his; that is, we will be humble, loving. 
We will not be jealous, will not be ambitious, self- 
seeking, covetous, revengful, but we will be meek, 
tender-hearted, affectionate, loving, kind and Christ-like, 
and we will be all the time growing in those graces. 
Now we can tell whether we have that spirit or not. 
" If any one have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of 
his." Now that is a sign that we have a good hope, 
and if we haven't got the spirit of Christ, our hope is 
worthless. 

Now, I was speaking about that house on the founda- 
tion. If you will turn to Isaiah, twenty-eighth chapter 
and sixteenth verse, you will find that the foundation is 
already laid. — " Therefore ; thus saith the Lord God , 
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried 
stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he 
that believeth shall not make haste." There it is tried; 
it is a precious corner stone; is is a sure foundation. It 
was tried when Christ was here. He is the chief corner 
stone. He was tried. The Scribes tried him. The 
Saducees tried him. He was tried by the law. He 



BLESSED HOPS. 127 

kept the law. He was tried by, and ne overcome death. 
He was tried by Satan. Satan came and presented 
temptation after temptation, and he said, "Get thee 
hence." He overcame Satan. He was tried by the 
grave, and he conquered the grave. This stone has 
been tested and tried. Now if we build on that we 
have a sure foundation. There is none other name 
under heaven given among men whereby we must be 
saved. "There is no other foundation that man can lay 
than that is laid," and all that build on that foundation 
shall be saved. Let the storms come then and try that 
foundation. It has been tried. Your foundation, if you 
build on any other, has never been tested. It has not 
been tried. Your hope has not been tried. Our hope 
has, because our hope is in Jesus Christ and it was put 
to the test and we have got a hope that is sure and firm 
if we are in Christ. Now a false hope just flatters 
people. It is a great flatterer. It makes people think 
they are all right when they are all wrong. Some one 
has said that false hopes are like spider webs. The 
maid comes in with a broom and sweeps them all down. 
When a storm comes the foundation of our false hopes 
is all gone. Suppose death should come and look you 
in the face this afternoon, and say to you, " This is your 
last day," and should begin to lay his cold, icy hand 
upon you, and you should begin to look around to see if 
you had got a foundation and a good hope. Would you 
be ready to meet God? That is the question. Now, 
what may happen any day let us be ready for every day. 
You know very well there is not one of us but that 
may be summoned this very day into the presence of 
God. Have you got a hope that will stand the dying 
hour? Have you got a hope that will stand the test? If 
you have not, you can give up your false hope to-day 



128 BLESSED HOPE. 

and get a good one — a hope that is worth having, that 
has been tried and tested. 

There were two millers that used to take care of a mill, 
and every night at midnight the miller used to get into 
his boat from his house and go down the stream to the mill 
— used to get out about two or three hundred yards above 
the dam and go to the mill. His brother miller would 
take the boat and row back to the house. One night 
this miller went down as usual at midnight and fell 
asleep, and when he woke up found he was almost going 
over the dam, the water going over the dam having 
waked him. He realized in a moment his condition, 
that if he went over that dam it was sure death, and he 
seized the oars and tried to row back, but the current 
was too strong and he could not pull against it, but he 
managed in the darkness to get his boat near the shore, 
and he caught hold of a little twig. He went to pull 
himself out of the boat and the twig began to give way, 
at the roots. He looked all around, and could find 
nothing else to get hold of; but he could just hold on to 
the twig and keep his boat from going over the dam. 
If he pulled a little harder and tried to pull himself up, 
the little twig would give way; and he just cried then 
for help. His hope was not a good one. He would 
perish if he let go, and perish if he held on. He just 
cried at the top of his voice for help, and help came. 
They came and threw a rope over the cleft of the rock, 
and he let go of the twig and laid hold of the rope, and 
was saved. 

I have come here to throw a rope over to you and to 
give you a good hope. Now we have a hope here that 
is worth having. Let that false hope of yours go, you 
will perish if you will hold on to it. Let it go and lay 
hold of a hope that is set before you. 

Now, you know that hope in scripture never is used 



BLESSED HOFK. 129 

to express a doubt. When people say they hope they 
are Christians, it is not really proper. You cannot find 
any Christians in the Bible who say they hope they are 
Christians. It is something that has already taken place. 
We don't hope we are Christians. If a man asks me if 
I am a married man, I would not say I hope I am. That 
would cast a reflection on my marriage vows. If a man 
asks me if I am an American, I would not say I hope 1 
am. I was born in this country. I am an American, 
I am not anything else. Now, if I have been born oi 
God, born of the Spirit— and I contend it is our privi- 
lege to know — I don't say, "I hope I am a Christian." 
I know in whom I have believed. I will tell you what 
hope is used for in scripture. It used to express our hope 
of the resurrection, or the coming of the Lord Jesus 
Christ — something to take place. It is a sure hope. 
About every time that hope is used in scripture, it is used 
either to express our hope of the resurrection, or the 
coming back of our Lord and Master. That is the 
blessed hope in Titus. We are waiting for our Lord 
and Master from heaven. We have not a doubt. It is 
a sure hope. And yet a great many people seem to 
think that hope here in the Bible is used to express a 
doubt. "We hope that we are Christians." We ought 
to know that we are His. We ought to know that we 
have passed from death unto life. We ought to know 
in whom we have believed, that we are looking forward 
to the time when these vile bodies shall be raised incor- 
ruptible ; when that which has been sown in weakness 
shall be raised with power. We are living in the glori- 
ous hope that when our dead shall come back again, the 
loved ones that are laid away in the cemeteries shall come 
when the Lord of heaven shall descend with a shout. 
"When the trump of God is heard, the dead in Christ 
shall rise first, then we which ar© alive and remain 

Glory 9 



J30 BLESSED HOPS 

shall be caught up, together with them in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air." 

So we stand with our loins girded and our lights burn- 
ing, waiting for the coming of the Master. 

Now, it says here in Proverbs, "The hope of the right- 
eous shall be gladness." "Happy is he that hath the 
God of Jacob for his hope, whose hope is in the Lord." 
It is not in some resolution that he has made; it is not in 
some act of his; it is not that he has joined some church; 
it is not that he reads his Bible, or that he says his 
prayers. His expectation is from God; his hope is in 
God. Never was a man disappointed who put his hope 
in God. God will fulfill His word. There is no such 
thing as a man being disappointed that puts his hope in 
God. But the trouble is, you know, we are putting our 
hopes in one another, and we are being disappointed. 
We are putting our hopes in ourselves, and our treach- 
erous hearts are disappointing us and then we are cast 
down. But what we want is "to put our hope in Him, 
not ourselves. A well-grounded hope is good for all 
time. It is is good in poverty. It is good in sickness. 
It is good in the dying hour; and when we lay a body 
down in the grave, we have a hope in its coming back 
again. We lay down with sure hope, a glorious hope, 
Oh, how hope cheers us! You know it was Hopeful 
(in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress) that came along and 
cheered Christian. That is what hope is for. We are 
looking foward to a blessed hope. 

Now, there i3 a passage in the sixth chapter of He- 
brews, that I want to call your attention to : "That by 
two immutable things, in which it was impossible for 
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who had 
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; 
which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure 
And steadfast, and which entereth into that within the 



LESSKB HOPS. 131 

^ail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesu&, 
made an high priest forever after the order of Melchis- 
edec." What the anchor is to the ship hope is to th^ 
soul, As long as the anchor holds, the ship is perfectly 
safe. 

Now, if I were to die this afternoon, and were to give 
a reason for the hope that is within me, I will tell you 
where I would find it; not in my feelings, not in my res- 
olutions, not that I joined the church twenty odd years 
ago — I believe it is all right to unite with the church and 
work for it. We ought to love the church; it is the dear- 
est institution on earth. If I was going to die this after- 
noon, my faith would be right here, "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on 
Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not 
come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto 
life." Now, if I did not get eternal life by believing 
on the Lord Jesus Christ when I came to Him, what 
did I get? If eternal life is not the gift of God, what is 
it? Then, if we have eternal life, we have something 
that cannot perish. It is a life that carries me beyond the 
grave; that reaches away over on to resurrection ground ; 
that carries me on and on forever. The wages of sin is 
death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Eternal life is 
a gift, and I just took it. That is my hope. I don't 
want any other hope. If I had to die to-day, I could 
just pillow my dying head upon the truth of that verse, 
and rest it there. 

A man said to me the other day, " How do you feel ? " 
I said, " It has been so long since I have thought of my- 
self, I don't know; I would have to stop to think it 
over.* 

I thank God my salvation don't rest upon my feelings. 
I thank God my hope is not centered in my feelings. 
If it was it would be a very treacherous thing. I would 



132 BLBSSBD HOP*. 

be very hopeful one day and cast down the next aay. I 
would not give much for a hope that is anchored in my 
feelings. I would not give much for a hope that is based 
upon my treacherous heart But I tell you that a hope 
that is based upon Jesus Christ's word is a hope worth 
having. Now, he said it; let us believe it; let us lay 
hold of it by faith. "Verily, verily," which means 
"truly, truly," "he that heareth my word" — I have 
heard it. Satan can't make me believe that I have not. 
I have read it; I have handled it — " He that heareth my 
word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting 
life." It don't say that you shall have it when you come 
to die, but hath it right here this afternoon, before you 
go out of this church. That is a hope worth having isn't 
it ? " Hath everlasting life, and shall not come into con- 
demnation," which means " into judgment, but has passed 
from death unto life." There is my hope. I have 
stood there for twenty odd years. I have been assailed 
by doubts. I have been assailed by unbelief. I have 
been attacked by the enemy of all righteousness; but 
I tell you for twenty odd years I have been able to stand 
fair and square right on that rock. God said it. I 
believe it; God said it. I lay hold of it; and I just rest 
right there. What we want is to let our hope go down 
like an anchor into the Word of God, and that gives us 
something to rest upon. 

A great many people are waiting for some feeling. I 
will venture to say that more than half of this audience 
have come here to-day, and taken their seats in the hope 
that something will be said that shall impress them. You 
say, " I hope that man will say something that will im- 
press me." You are waiting for so»ie impression — some- 
thing to strike you. There is a nan up in my native 
town* now fifty-eight years old with whom I have 



BLESSED HOFB. 133 

talked I don't know how many times, and every time I 
talk to him he says, " Well, it hasn't struck me yet." 
" What do you mean ? " "Well," he says, "it hasn't struck 
me yet." "Well," I said, "that is a queer expression. What 
do you mean? " He would come out to meetings, and wait 
through the meeting for something to strike him. "What 
do you mean?" " Well, I say it hasn't struck me yet." 
You laugh at it, but that is yourself. You need not 
laugh at yourself. You will find the church is full of 
people who are waiting for something to strike them. 
What we want is to take God's word, and let the feel- 
ings take care of themselves. God said it. I will 
believe it, and I w T ill rest my soul upon the Word of 
God, not upon my feelings. Just take another word, 
44 He came unto his own and his own received him not; 
but to as many as received him, to them gave he power 
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
His name." To as many as received Him. It is not 
dogma; it is not creed: it is not doctrine; it is not feel- 
ing; it is not an impression; but it is a person. "As 
many as received Him, to them gave he power to become 
the sons of God." We get power to serve God, power 
to live for God, power to work for God by receiving 
Christ, and there is no power until we do receive Him. 
What we want is to receive God's gift to the world. 
When he gave up Christ, he gave all he had. He liter- 
ally emptied heaven. And He wants you to take Christ 
as you would take any other gift and receive it. Lay 
hold of that gift and it will give you hope, and if you 
should, inside of twenty-four hours you can say, " The 
anchor holds; I have a hope." If God said if I would 
receive his Son, he would give me power to receive him. 
I trust him, and that is all he asks us to do. Let not 
any one here to-day say he can't believe on the Lord 



134 BLESSED HOPE* 

Jesus Christ. You have the power if you will. The 
will is the key to the human heart. " Ye will not come 
unto me that ye might have life." Ye will not come 
unto me and get this good hope. You can have it 
Take it. God offers it to you. You can lay hold of this 
hope to-day. You can became His if you wUL 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR 



We have for our subject to-day, the worldly professor. 
There is a class of people now-a-days that seem to say 
with a good deal of pleasure that they are Christians, 
but they are not the spiritual kind. They are paying 
members rather than praying members. They flatter 
themselves the church could not get on very well with- 
out them, and they seem to think it is really better to 
belong to that class. 

Now, I want to call your attention to a man of that 
class to-day: It is Lot, and, as I said yesterday, that 
Peter was a near kin of us all, I think we will find Lot 
a pretty close relative, if we will study his character. I 
think we will find that we come very near him. I think 
you will find to-day a good many more Lots in the 
church than you will find Abrahams. There are a good 
many more Jacobs than Josephs, men that are walking 
by sight rather than by faith. 

The first glimpse we get of this character is in the 
eleventh chapter of Genesis, thirty-first and thirty-sec- 
ond verses : " And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot 
the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter- 
in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with 
them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of 
Canaan; and they came unto Haran and dwelt there. 
And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years. 
And Terah died in Haran, 

Now, we find in the twelfth chapter and the first 
and second verses: "Now the Lord had said onto 

135 



^36 THB WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 

Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kin- 
dred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will 
show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, 
and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou 
shall be a blessing." 

Now, God had called him out of the land of the idol- 
ators, he had called him away from his kindred, and he 
came, it says, to Haran. If you will look at the map of 
that country you will find that he came half way; and 
he staid there five years, until his father died. It was 
affliction that brought him out of Haran. 

Now, I think you will find that a good many of us 
have got to Haran and there we have stopped. God 
has called us to the promised land, and the Lord wants 
us to go clear over into Canaan, but we think it is better 
to live on the border between the two; and the border 
Christians at the present time are the ones that are doing 
so much harm, not only to the cause of Christ, but to 
themselves and their own families. 

Now, what we want is to get out of Haran and get 
into the promised land where God wants us to go. We 
find that after Terah, the father of Abraham, died, they 
started and went down into the promised land, and the 
first thing that met them there was a famine. God will 
not have a man that he cannot try. This was a great 
trial. Not only that, but they found this land occupied. 
God had promised to give it to Abraham, and yet it was 
occupied. He starts and goes down into Egypt. I have 
not followed that out, but I think it would be a very in- 
teresting study to look and see if God ever sent any 
one down into Egypt, unless it was his Son when he 
sent Him down there, and he fled away from the men 
that wanted to slay Him, and that the Scriptures might 
be fulfilled which says that he should call Him out of 

Egypt 



THM WORLDLY PROFESSOR. \$7 

Lot went down into Egypt, and there he got rich, and 
the world would call him very successful. And there 
was the beginning of the trouble between Lot and Abra- 
ham. They came up out of the country rich. While 
Abraham was down there he fell into sin, and it was 
there he denied his wife. We find that his son Isaac 
did the same thing — fell upon the very same stumbling 
stone that Abraham fell upon. It shows that our child- 
ren are following in our footsteps. And when they 
came up out of Egypt we see a strife among the herds- 
men. Riches very often bring strife and truuble. If 
Abraham had been like some men now-a-days there 
would have been a good chance for a lawsuit. They 
would have gone into a lawsuit before those heathen 
and caused a good deal of scandal. But Abraham was 
a man of faith. He said to his nephew, " We can't 
afford to quarrel here among these heathen; let there be 
no strife between us. You go to the right and I will go 
to the left, or you go to the left and I will go to the 
right. You take your pick." Then was the beginning 
of Lot's trouble. He made a mistake. If Lot had 
allowed God to choose for him he never would have 
gone down to Sodom, that is clear. The Lord of hea- 
ven never took Lot by the hand and led him into the 
well-watered plains of Sodom. 

I don't believe God ever led one of his children yet 
down into Sodom. I think the sweetest lesson I have 
learned since I have been in Christ's school- — I have been 
a good while learning it; I wish I had learned that 
lesson the first year I came into his school — it is to let 
the Lord God choose for me when it comes to temporal 
things. We are apt to think we can choose better than 
the Lord can. My little children are very apt to think 
they can choose a good deal better for themselves than I 
can for them. But they don't know what is for th^ir 



138 THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 

good half as well as I do ; and I don't know what is good 
for myself, especially in regard to temporal things, as 
well as my Father does. He can choose better for us 
than we can choose for ourselves. 

Now, in the sight of the world, Lot made a very fine 
choice. I will venture to say the men in his day said he 
was a shrewd, keen, sharp, long-headed man; and if he 
should live twenty-five years, he would be worth more 
than his uncle Abraham. He had got all those well- 
watered plains of Sodom. He was a very shrewd busi- 
ness man. He was a man to be commended in the sight 
of the world. The world would commend such a spirit 
as that. But Abraham let his nephew take his choice, 
and they separated, and that was really the greatest mis- 
take that Lot ever made. There was the beginning of 
his troubles. When we begin to choose for ourselves 
we will always be making mistakes of that kind; and 
the mistakes of our life, we can sing every day, are many, 
if we attempt to choose for ourselves. 

I remember I wanted to teach my little girl this lesson 
some time ago, when she was a little thing. She had a 
good many dolls around the house — broken legs, and 
broken arms, and eyes, all lying around there; and she 
had been teasing me a good while to get a big doll — 
a great big one. So one day I thought I would get her 
a big doll, and went to a toy shop. There was a basket- 
ful of little china dolls there, about as big as your finger. 
She got one and said, " Papa, isn't this the prettiest little 
doll you ever did see? Isn't that cunning? Now, papa 
won't you buy me that doll ?" " Well, now," I said, 
"Emma, if you want me to, I will, but I was going to 
pick you out a doll this time. Hadn't I better choose for 
you ?" " No, papa, I want that doll." She insisted upon 
it, and I paid a nickel, and we went off home. A day 
or two after, I said, "Emma, do you know what I w« 



THB WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 139 

groing to do when I took you into the toy shop the other 
day?" " No." " Well, I was going to buy you one of 
those great big dolls you wanted so long." ** Why 
didn't you do it?" "Because you wouldn't let me." 
" Why wouldn't I let you ?" "Why, because you wanted 
to choose for yourself. You said you would rather have 
that doll." She bit her lips. She saw she had made a mis- 
take ; and from that day to this I never have been able to ge( 
that girl to pick out anything. She is fifteen years old 
now. She says, " You pick ; you choose," " When ] 
was going off to Europe, I said, " Now, what shall I ge< 
for you while I am in Europe?" "Just what yoi 
please." I could not get her to pick out anything. Sht 
says, " You pick for me." 

Now, if we let the Lord choose for us, he will choose 
better for us than we can for ourselves. Lot wanted to 
choose for himself. I will venture to say when h?. left 
Abraham, if you had talked to him about going to Sodom, 
he would have said, " O, no, go into Sodom! Da you 
think I would take my wife into Sodom ? Do y do think 
I would take my children down into Sodom—into that 
great city with all its temptations? Not I!" lie pitched 
his tent towards Sodom. He looked towards the city, 
and it was not long before his business took him in there. 
He went down there perhaps to sell bis cattle, and found 
there was a good market. Some of die leading men 
wanted him to come down there. lie jould make a good 
deal of money — could make money faster. When a man 
pitches his tent toward Sodorx?, &rA gets to looking in, it 
won't be long before he gels in there, tent and all. It 
was not long before Lot got down into Sodom. His 
business took him there, If you had talked to him he 
would have said: "Business must be attended to. A 
man must atter d to business, you know." " But then it 
will be ruin to fjm family." " Oh, well, I am going t© 



140 vSaS WWHUM** fc-C&V££Sflfc 

*aake money and get out of it. When I get enough to 
retire I will get out of it, move back and live on th$ 
plains with Abraham. But I must attend to business 
first." Many a man puts his business before his family. 
Business must be attended to to get rich let the cons©* 
quences be what they will; let ruin and desolation come 
apon the family, I must accumulate wealth while I haw 
the opportunity. Undoubtedly Lot reasoned in tiiai 
way, as a great many people reason now. 

The next thing we hear of now is that Sodom hm 
a war; and if you are going into Sodom you have t© 
take a Sodom judgment. When the judgment does 
come you have to take a part of it. If you take Sodom v s 
money you must take Sodom's judgment. War came, 
and the king of Sodom was defeated in battle and Lot 
was taken prisoner, his wife and his children. And 
when the people on the plains told Abraham of it, and 
g§ soon as Abraham heard of it, he called his servants, 
three hundred and eighteen -of them, and went in hot 
haste after the enemy, overtook them and got Lot and 
his family, and brought them all back. 

Now, he ought to have kept out of Sodom, he ought: 
to have staid on the plains with the tent and altar, because 
.ill the time Lot was there in Sodom we never hear <rf 
his having an altar there. We never hear of his calling 
®n the God of Abraham down there. He was dowB 
there trying to make money, and not to worship. Thai 
is not what he went to Sodom for. It was to get some 
of Sodom's money. That was what he was after; and 
instead of staying out, he goes back again. That ought 
to have been warning enough. But if you had reasoned 
with him, undoubtedly he would have told you he must 
go back and make up what he had lost. He had lost 
a good deal. He had got a start; he was known; he 
held some real ©state down there, and he must go dews* 



TKB WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 141 

there ; he wanted to look after it. There had been a 
fire, and the fire had burned up a number of his build- 
ings, and he must go down and rebuild; and he takes 
his family and goes back into Sodom. In the sight oi 
the world Lot was one of the most successful men in 
all Sodom. If you had gone into Sodom a little while 
before destruction came upon it, and began to inquire 
about Sodom and its leading men, they would have 
told you Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was one of the 
most successful men in all Sodom. He held office. We 
find him sitting at the gate; that is a sign that he was 
an officer; perhaps they made him a judge; a good, 
high-sounding name, Judge Lot. It is a good title; the 
world honored him; Sodom honored him. They liked 
him there very well. Then he would have reasoned in 
this way : " Don't you see, I have got an influence by 
coming down here." He was a man of great influence 
in the sight of the world — immense influence. They 
would have told you he was one of the most influential 
men in all Sodom. He owned, perhaps, the best corner 
lots, and he may have had his name on them. You 
might have seen his name on a good many of those 
corner lots, and on the best buildings in town. If they 
had had a congress in those days, he would have been 
a very popular man to send to congress. It would have 
been "The Honorable Mr. Lot, of Sodom." They 
would have made him Mayor, perhaps. He was a man 
the world delighted to honor. The world delights to 
honor that kind of a man; a man of great influence. 

But I want to call your attention to one thing. He 
was there twenty years and never got a convert. That 
is the man of influence! Look around and see where the 
worldly Christians are. How many souls are they win- 
ning to Jesus Christ? Are they the men that are build- 
ing up Christ's kingdom? I tell you those men are 



142 THE WORLDLY PROFESSOX. 

doing more to tear it down than any other class of men. 
Lot was so identified with Sodom, and so much like the 
men of Sodom, that when he came to testify for the God 
■>f Abraham do you think they would take his testimony? 
Not a word of it. Mrs. Lot, his wife, moved in the 
very highest circle, probably. If she rode out she had 
the very best turnout. If they had theaters in those 
days you would have found her at the theater. Her 
children, of course, were in the world, and they had to 
be like the world. Of course they danced. They were 
what you call dancing Christians, theater going Christ- 
ians. If a nice opera comes along, the Chicago Church 
Choir or something of that kind, and it comes Friday 
night, prayer meeting night, they are all there. They 
are not at the prayer meeting. 

Ah, you smile, but the church is full of them to-day. 
We have our Lots. Twenty long years he stayed down 
there in Sodom; and when the messengers of God 
visited him, what did they find? I would be ashamed 
to read it to you. It would bring a tinge of red upon 
your cheeks. Many of you would blush and hang your 
heads. A child of God down there in Sodom! A child 
of God in such a dark place! Those two messengers 
didn't have any written word. God used to send mes- 
sengers down. It had been a long time since Lot had 
seen any messengers from heaven. When he was back 
to the plains with Abraham, with the tent and the altar, 
they visited the tent, and he was quite familiar with 
them. He had seen them often talking to his uncle, but 
he had been down there in the mists and fogs of Sodom, 
and he had not seen those angels. But late one after- 
noon two of them made their appearance at the gate # 
He was there sitting in his place of office, and he knew 
them. He invited them to his house. Most of you 
>t >w what took place. If they had not performed t 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 143 

miracle there the Sodomites would have slain those two 
men of God. They rose up against them. Lot tried to 
quiet them, and they mocked him. " This stranger 
coming here to dictate to us!" Where is his testimony? 
They didn't receive his testimony. These men tell us 
they want to get influence over the world and are goinp 
to reach the world in that way. Do they reach it ii 
that way? Do worldly Christians reach the world! 
The world reaches them and pulls them down. They 
don't pull the world up. I never knew one that did it 
It is the separated man — it is Abraham with the tent 
and altar, that is out of the mist and fog of Sodom, that 
is going to do Sodom good; not the men down in Sodom, 
living like Sodom. Separation is what we want 
to-day. We want the men of God to come out from 
the world. There is a difference between the men of 
God and the men of this world. They that serve the 
god of this world are the servants of sin and Satan. 
They that serve the Lord Jesus Christ do not belong to 
this world. They are citizens of another world. And 
these two messengers found such a horrible state ol 
things, they said to Lot, " Have you got any other chil- 
dren in Sodom besides these two daughters here in this 
house?" And they found that two of his daughters had 
been given away to the Sodomites. Think of it. He 
had got rich; got money; he had got Sodom's money. 
But two of his daughter's had been given to those Sod- 
omites — those men living in such awful sin, and such 
awful wickedness. What do we see to-day? Fathers 
and mothers giving their daughters to ungodly men, 
drinking men, gambling men, licentious men, men whose 
hearts are as Wack as hell ; but they have a little money, 
and hold a little position, drive fast horses. Professed 
Christians! And that is the worst of it. Lot professed 



144 THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR 

to be the servant of the Most High God, living down 
there in Sodom. 

The messengers said, "Go get them out; we are 
going to destroy this place. The wickedness of this 
place has come up to high heaven, and God is going 
to blast it. The day of judgment is coming. Make 
haste, Lot get your children out of here." Look at that 
old man at midnight gray-haired, in the evening of his 
life, moving along through the streets of Sodom with 
his head down. What a night for Lot! Here is your 
man of influence. He goes to the house where those 
sons-in-law are. They are, perhaps, asleep. He raps. 
Some one opens the window, puts his head out and he 
says, " Who is there ? " " It is your father-in-law, Lot." 
" What are you here for at this time of the night?" "I 
have got a couple of messengers of heaven in my house 
and they have brought news from heaven that God is 
going to destroy this city, and they want to have me get 
you out" — and they mock at him. His own sons-in-law 
mock him. There is your worldly man. There is the 
man that has gone into the world to get influence over 
it, and his own children — there they are, and they mock 
the old. He plead and undoubtedly wept over them, 
but it was all in vain. They mocked at his tears; they 
mocked at his entreaties. " Why Sodom to be destroyed ? 
Away with such a delusion! Sodom was never more 
prosperous than it is to-day." They were eating ana 
drinking, buying and selling and building until the fire 
came, as it was in the days of Noah. " Sodom 
destroyed! We were never more prosperous than we are 
now. Away with such a delusion. God going to judge 
Sodom! We don't believe it." His own children didn't 
believe it. We can can see him going back to his house 
with a broken heart, head down weeping. Early the 
n«t rooming the angels had to take him by the hand 



THK WORLDLY PROFESSOR, I4.5 

and hasten him out of the city. Poor Lot! He lingered. 
Do you know why he lingered ? Ah ! those loved ones 
were there. If there is any person on earth we ought 
to pity it is the father or mother that has led his children 
into the world and then can't get them out You lead 
them in and then when you try to lead out they laugh 
at you and mock you. O, to live so that our children 
will not take our testimony ! I tell you if I know my 
own heart I would rather be torn limb from limb on this 
platform — I would rather die this moment than to live 
so that my children do not, would not have confidence in 
my testimony when I spoke of Jesus Christ and the 
religion of the Bible. I tell you if you live a worldly 
life as Lot did down in Sodom that is going to be the 
result. The reaping time is coming, and we will have 
to reap the bitter fruit. Look at poor Lot as he takes 
his wife and his two daughters and hastens out of the 
city. And his wife, no wonder she looked back. Those 
loved ones, those children were there. 

Now, just take an inventory of what Lot lost. He 
lost his testimony, that is certain. There was not a 
Sodomite would take it, and his own family would not 
He lost his wife and all his children but two. He lost 
all his property. He lost his peace of mind. He lost 
the society of Abraham. He fell still lower out on the 
mountain side. The curtains drops, you might say, upon 
him, and he became the father of the backsliders. He 
became the father of a nation that were afterwards 
enemies of God. The bitter fruit of backsliding! That 
is the end of the worldly professor. Yet they lift up 
their heads in this city and tell you they are not spirit- 
ually minded people, and rather boast of it 

If you want to find out who is the successful man, you 
don't want to take a glimpse of him right in the middle 
of life, right in his prime, but take him from the cradle 

Glory 10 



146 THK WORLDLY PROFESSOR 

to the grave, and see what an influence the man leavet 
behind him. I will venture to say there are hundreds of 
men that would give all they have got if they could bury 
their influence in the grave with them. Their influences 
has been bad over their children and in the community. 
Now, if there is a poor Lot in this audience to-day, I beg 
of you to get out of Sodom. 

Make haste ! Don't linger any longer upon the plains, 
but start for Mount Calvary. Come back again and confess 
your sins, and ask God to forgive you, and then go to 
work and get your children out. Make haste! The 
judgment is coming. Men may mock and scoff as long 
as they are amind to, but up yonder sits a God of judg- 
ment. He is going to judge. He says He will do it, 
and He will do it. It is only a question of time. We 
might as well own it as shut our eyes to it, and deny the 
fact that God is going to bring us to judgment; and if 
we live in the world, and like the world, and bring 
oui children into the world, tjiey are going to bring our 
gray hairs to an untimely grave. Many a father has 
gone before us, and many of them to-day are on the 
way. 

Let us ask God to open our eyes, that we may see our 
true standing before God. It is a thousand times better 
to be like Abraham, out on the plains with a tent and 
altar, in daily communion with God, than it is to be in 
Sodom with the honor of the whole city rolled at your 
feet. The honor of this world is so empty, so fleeting] 
It is not worth crossing the street for. Let us get the world 
and Sodom under our feet to-day, and let us set our faces 
like a flint toward the God of Abraham, and let us be 
content to live on the plains with the tent and altar, 
and serve our God until He calls us hence. 



REPENTANCE. 



But now command eth all men every- where to repent. — Acts, xvii, 3a 

You will find my text to-night in the 1 7th chapter of 
Acts, a part of the 30th verse : " Commandeth all men 
every where to repent." That must take all in. It is 
another command. Then in the next verse he tells us 
why : " Because he hath appointed a day in the which He 
will judge the world in righteousness by that man 
whom He hath ordained ; whereof He hath given assur- 
ance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the 
dead." 

The day is appointed. We do not know anything 
about the calendar of heaven. God has kept that appoint- 
ment in His own mind. We do not know just the 
day, but the day is appointed, the time is fixed, and God 
is going to judge this world. So He sends out a 
proclamation and commands all men now every where 
to repent. And if you do not want to be brought into 
judgment and be judged, you had better repent; turn 
to God, and let Jesus Christ be judged for you, and 
escape the judgment. It is a great thing to get rid of 
the judgment. " There is no condemnation to him that 
is in Christ Jesus." That is, there is no judgment. 
Judgment is already past to the believer — to the man 
that has repented of his sins and confessed them, and 
turned away from them, and God has put them away. 
They never again shall be mentioned. We read in 
Ezekiel that not one of our sins have been mentioned ; 
that they have been forgiven; therefore God calls upoa 

147 



148 REPENTANCE, 

all men every where now — not some future time — 
but now, right here to-night, to repent. 

As we look at the beginning of the gospel of this 
dispensation, you will find that John the Baptist, the 
forerunner of Christ, that his voice just rung througn 
the wilderness of Judea, and that he had but one text: 
you might say his text was one word, " Repent, repent, 
repent." That was his cry. He kept it up until he 
met Christ at the Jordan, and then he changed the text, 
and he had but one text after that: " Behold the Lamb 
of God which taketh away the sin of the world." 

He first called to repentance, but when Jesus Christ 
commenced His ministry, he took up that wilderness 
cry and echoed it again over the plains of Palestine — 
•* Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Whei 
He sent out the twelve, Pie told them to go into ever) 
town and make this proclamation: That the kingdom 
of God was coming nigh, and men must repent. If 
they wanted to get in His kingdom, they must enter 
through that door of repentance. When He sent out 
the seventy, two by two, He gave them instructions 
that they should just say, " Repent, for the kingdom ot 
heaven is at hand." 

Then we find, after Christ had ascended again into 
glory, Peter took up that cry on the day of Pentecost, 
and as he preached through Jerusalem to sinners that 
they must repent, the Holy Ghost came down and testi- 
fied to what Peter was saying. 

Now, we find in this text Paul is here in Athens 
raising that wilderness cry again, and commands men 
now and every where to repent. There is no such thing 
as a man getting to heaven until he repents. You may 
preach Christ and offer Christ, but man has got to turn 
away from sin first, as we tried to show you last night. 
14 Let tb* wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous maa 



REPENTANCE. 149 

his thoughts, and turn unto the Lord." Repentance if 
turning. 

Before I commence to preach about repentance, I wan 
to tell you what it is not. The fact is, I believe thi? 
great truth that has been talked so much in the churcl 
that every school-boy ought to be acquainted with it, v 
the very thing we are in darkness about. 

It seems to me as if Satan has thrown dust in the 
eyes of the people; that the god of this world ha? 
blinded us to these things. I find a great many people 
have a false idea of what repentance is. 

Now repentance is not fear. Mark that. I may 
stand here to-night, and I may perhaps picture to you 
the judgment, and I might alarm some people here, and 
you may get scared and it would look as if it was true 
work, but it would pass away like a morning cloud. I 
might hold a revolver to your head and say, " Repent, 
or I will blow your brains out," and you would say, " I 
will repent, I will repent," but when the revolver was 
taken away you would forget all about it. That is tak- 
ing place all the while. Some people think they have 
got to be wrought up. Something has to be said to 
alarm them. You go out to sea, or out here on Lake 
Erie, and let a storm come up ; fifteen minutes before the 
storm the sailors, and perhaps the Captain, are cursing 
and blaspheming. A storm comes up and they go to 
praying. You would think they were saints. The 
storm passes away, and they are out of danger and they 
are swearing again. That is fear. That is not repent- 
ance. It seemed as if the king of Egypt was really com- 
ing to the Lord, to hear him talk when he heard the 
thunderings, and judgments of God upon him. The 
king was alarmed. It looked as if he was coming to 
the Lord, but he was only scared. The moment those 
judgments were off he forgot all about it That w^a 



150 REPENTANCE* 

not repentance at all. A man may be scared and AOt 
repent. A man may be alarmed and not repent. Many 
men, when death comes and takes a look at them, begin 
to be alarmed. They get well and forget all about it. 

Repentance is not feeling. Mark that! There are 
hundreds and thousands of people in Cleveland who 
just have their arms folded and they are waiting for 
some queer kind of feeling. They think repentance is a 
certain kind of feeling; that they have to feel very bad, 
very sorrowful- — got to weep a good deal, and then they 
will be in a condition to come to God. Repentance is 
not feeling. A man may feel very bad and not really re- 
pent. I venture to say if you go down to Columbus to 
the state penitentiary you cannot find a man in th^re 
that does not feel sorry he got caught, awful sorry— si \ed 
a great many tears in court on his trial. The trouble is 
they are sorry they got caught. That is all. They feej 
very bad they got caught. But there is no true repent- 
ance; no turning to God. Feeling is not repentance. 
Last winter I preached seven months to the convicts in 
the Maryland Penitentiary. I found men just the same 
under lock and key that they are out. There were a 
great many there in that prison who had passed through 
their trial, been sentenced ten years or five years to the 
penitentiary, that had no signs of repentance there at all. 
They were very sorry they got caught. They would 
like to get out very well, and perhaps they would do the 
same thing right over when they got out. That is not 
repentance at all. 

A man may be dishonest in some business transaction, 
and bring ruin upon himself and his family; he may 
weep bitter tears for weeks and for months, and yet not 
repent. But he is verv sorrv he eot caught. These de- 
faulters are all sorry they got caugnt. 1 do not know 
how many of them truly repent. If they truly repent, 



REPENTANCE. 151 

God forgives them whether man does or not. They 
may shed a great many tears and not repent. 

I tell you we have got to wake up to the fact that re- 
pentance is not feeling. It is something higher, deeper 
broader than just mere sentiment or feeling. A man 
may weep, and brush away the tears and forget aL 
about it. 

And then repentance is not remorse. Judas had re- 
morse. He did not repent towards God. He was filled 
with remorse and despair, and w 7 ent out and hung him- 
self. That was not repentance. There is a difference 
between remorse and repentance. 

Then repentance is not penance. Some people think 
they have got to put that in the place of repentance. 
They think if they just do penance they are all right, 
Suppose I go down to Lake Erie and stand all night up 
to my neck in the water till daylight, is that repentance ? 
Will I be more acceptable to God to-morrow night be- 
cause I have been down there in the lake all night and 
stood in the water up to my neck ? That is not repent- 
ance. 

Conviction is not repentance. A man may be con- 
victed that he is wrong and not repent. I may remain 
for years under conviction and not repent. 

Repentance is not praying. A great many people 
think they are going to settle this question by going off 
to pray and asking God to forgive them, and they go 
right on living the same way they have been living. 

Repentance is not forming a few good resolutions. It 
is not resolving that we w r ill be better and do better in 
the future and just go right on. 

Repentance is not breaking off from some sin. That 
is not repentance. Suppose a vessel has sprung aleak. 
There are three holes in it. You stop up two of them 
and leave one of them open. Down goes the vessel 



152 REPENTANCE. 

That is enough to sink it. And so some men say, " well, 
I will break off part of my sins." Suppose you are 
guilty of a hundred and break off ninety-nine of them 
and leave one, and go on committing that one. That 
one is enough, my friends. 

If God drove Adam out of Eden on account of one 
sin, do you think He will let you into the Paradise above 
with one sin upon you? If God would not let Adam 
stay in Eden— that earthly paradise — with one sin upon 
him, do you think He is going to allow sinners into that 
heavenly Paradise above with one sin upon them? So, it 
is not just breaking off part of our sins and leaving part 
of them, but it is leaving the whole of them. 

Perhaps you say; " Then what is repentance? If it 
Is not fear, if it is not feeling, if it is not prayer, and if it is 
not forming a few good resolutions and doing penance, 
what is it ? 

Listen^ my friends. Repentance is turning right 
about — in other words, as a soldier would call it, "right 
about face." As some one has said, man is born with 
his back towards God. When he truly repents he turns 
right around and faces God. Repentance is a change of 
mind. Repentance is an after-thought. 

Now, I might feel sorry that I had done a thing, and 
go right on and do it over again. You see repentance is 
deeper than feeling. It is action. It is turning right 
about. And God commands all men everywhere to 
turn. 

Let me read to you here a verse or two from the xxi. 
chapter of the gospel according to Matthew : " What think 
ye?" These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ 
"What think ye?" A certain man had two sons; and 
he said to them : " Go work in my vineyard." One of 
them said, "I will not go." The other said, "I will go 
sir " and went not. But the man that said he would not 



REPENTANCE. 153 

go repented and changed his mind — an after-thought, 
you see — and turned and went and did it. " Now," says 
Christ, "which of the two sons did his father's will?" 
"Well, the man that repented." And Christ just held 
that right up to the people. That is what the Lord 
wants — to have a man turn right about — not try to 
justify himself in his sin, but acknowledge his sin, con- 
fess his sin, and turn from it; and the moment a man is 
willing to do that, that moment God is ready and willing 
to receive him. 

Now, I think I can use an illustration that you can get 
hold of. Suppose I want to go to Chicago to-night. I 
go down to the depot. I do not know much about the 
trains in Cleveland. I see a man there whom I take tu 
be connected with the depot, and I ask him, "Is this 
train going right to Chicago?" "Yes." I take my hug 
and jump right aboard that train. I get comfortally 
seated and my friend, Mr. Doan, comes down and he says: 
"Mr. Moody, where are you going?" And I say, "go- 
ing to Chicago." " Well, you are on the wrong train. 
That train is going off to New York." " I think 3 ou 
are wrong, Mr. Doan; I just asked a man who is a nil- 
road man, and he told me this train was going to Chi- 
cago." "Well, sir, I tell you you are wrong. T*iat 
train is not going to Chicago at all"; it is going to take 
you right in an opposite direction. That train is going 
off to New York, and if you want to go to Chicago, you 
must get out of that train and get aboard another." I 
do not believe him at first. "Well," he says, "bu* I 
have been here in Cleveland for twenty-five years. I 
know all about these trains. I go to Chicago and New 
York a dozen times a year. I am constantly taking these 
drains. I am having friends nearly every week that 
take these trains, and I come down here, and I tell you 
that I am right and you are wrong, sir. You are on the 



154 REPENTANCE. 

wrong train." At last Mr. Doan convinces me that I 
am on the wrong train. That is conviction. But, if I 
cfo not change trains, I will go to New York in spite of 
my conviction. That is not repentance. I will tell you 
what is repentance : grabbing my bag and running and 
getting on the other train. That is repentance. 

Now, you are on the wrong train, my friends, and 
what you want is to change trains to-night. You are 
on the wrong side of this question. You are for the god 
of this world, and the w^orld claims your influence. God 
commands all men now everywhere to repent. Change 
trains! Make haste! There is no time for delay! It 
is a call that comes from the throne of God for every 
man, woman and child in this audience. Repent! If 
you die without repentance whose fault is it? God has 
called you ; God has commanded you, and if you will 
not obey that command, if you will not repent, and you 
die in your sins, no one is to blame but yourself. Mark 
that! No one is to blame but yourself, for God has 
commanded you. 

Now the question is, what will you do with this com- 
mand? Will you repent? Will you this very night, 
and this very hour, change trains? 

I will give you another illustration. There is going 
to be an election in this State to-morrow. Suppose you 
belong to a party up till to-night and you thought you 
were right; but to-night you become convinced that the 
party you are in is wrong. You become thoroughly 
convinced that if the party succeeds it is ruin to your 
state government. You are a patriotic man and you 
love the government. 

Now, some men say, " Can a man repent all at once?" 
I say he can. A man may come in here to-night a 
strong democrat, or he may come in here a strong re- 
publican, and he may change inside of twenty-four 



REPENTANCE. 

hours. You know that, don't you? If you belonged to 
a party and you were thoroughly convinced to-night 
that you were in the wrong party, do you tell me you 
could not change to-night and join the other party and 
go out to the polls and go to work to-morrow and be on 
the other side of the question? You can do it if you will. 

Now, my friends, we will not bring up this question 
of parties. I have nothing to do with that, I only use it 
as an illustration. There is one thing I do know; you 
are on the wrong side of this question. If you are away 
from God, and if you are fighting against the God of 
heaven, you had better change trains at once, hadn't you? 
Do it to-night. Make up your mind to-night that you 
will cast your lot with God's people — that you will just 
change trains, 

Look at that train the other night on the Michigan 
Central road near Jackson. Do you tell me a man can- 
not repent all at once? Do you tell me that the engi- 
neer of that train could not have whistled down brakes 
and turned that train back if he had had three minutes? 
He could if he had had time. He didn't have enough 
time. Look at that steamer on the ocean. It is bearing 
down upon an iceberg. It is going at the rate of twelve 
knots an hour in a fog; thev cannot see a rod ahead. 
All at once they reverse the steam. In a minute more 
they would have gone on the iceberg, and all on that 
vessel would have gone down. There was a minute 
when they could have reversed the steam, and they just 
seized the opportunity and saved all on board. 

And so there is a moment, my friends, that you can 
repent and turn to God, and there is such a thing as 
being a minute too late. Look at that White Star Line 
steamer when 500 were lost off the coast of Newfound- 
land. There was a minute that they just crossed the 
line, as it were, It was too late. 



156 REPENTANCE* 

So you may neglect your soul's salvation, and you 
may neglect to repent one day too long, and it will be 
too late. God commands you to do it now. He says, 
u Except a man repent, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
" Except ye repent." We have got to enter through the 
door of repentance into the kingdom of God. There is 
no other way. The highest and the lowest, the richest 
and the poorest, have all got to go in in the same way — 
on their hands and knees. 

I had a friend during the Chicago fire who got into 
one of those lanes there, and he became so stifled with 
smoke that he lay down to die. But as he lay on the 
ground he got beneath the smoke and crawled out on 
his hands and knees. And I tell you when a man gets 
on his knees and says, " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
God will forgive him and bless him. And so, if there is 
a person to-night in this house that wants to be saved 
just now while I am talking, say, " God helping me s 
this night I turn my face toward heaven;" and if need be 
God will send legions of angels to help you fight youi 
way up to heaven. 

Some men say they are afraid they will not hold out 
But God says, " My grace is sufficient for thee." u As 
thy faith, so shall thy strength be." God is not a hard 
master: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." 
When men make deep and thorough work, and are will- 
ing to forsake all sin and turn to God with all their 
hearts, God helps them; then there is no trouble. God 
is not a hard master. 

Now, it is left for you, as I said last night. You can 
turn if you will. The will comes in again. I read some 
time ago an account of some wealthy man who had an 
only son, who was a wild, reckless boy; but, although 
he was a wild, reckless boy, his fathei loved him. When 



REPENTANCE. 157 

the father was dying, he had his will made out, and he 

willed that boy all his property on one condition, and that 
was that that boy should repent of his sins. If the boy 
turned away from his evil associates and his past life, and 
became a sober and an upright man, he should have all 
his estate. All he had got to do was to enter into it. 
The father put it in the hands of trustees on these 
conditions, and all that boy had to do was to turn from 
his past life, and his evil associates, and enter into it. 
He loved his sins so he would not do it, and he died in 
his sins. I do not know as I could have a better illustra- 
tion than that. We have got an inheritance, incorrupti- 
ble, kept in reserve for us, and the moment a man is will- 
ing to turn from his sins he can enter into that inheri- 
tance. God keeps it in store for all that want it. But 
do not think for a moment that you are going to enter 
into that inheritance — into those mansions Christ has 
gone to prepare, with sin upon you. It is utterly out of 
the question. In your sins it is impossible for you to 
enter into that inheritance. "Except ye repent ye shall 
all likewise perish." We cannot get into the kingdom 
of God without repentance, without turning from sin, 
without laying hold of His righteousness and giving up 
our own. 

So the question comes for us to settle, and it is a ques- 
tion we can settle if v\ e will. We need not wait for this 
kind of feeling or that kind. It is to obey. Do you 
think God would command us to do something we could 
not do, and then punish us eternally for not doing it? 
Do vou think God would command all men now everv- 
where to repent, and not give them power to do it? Do 
you believe it? Away with such a doctrine as that! He 
would be an unjust God if He commanded me to do 
something I could not do^ and then punished me for not 
doing it 



158 REPENTANCE, 

Suppose I should command my boy to leap a mile at one 
leap, and if he did not do it that I would flog him, and 
then because he didn't do it I flogged him, what would 
you people in Cleveland say? You would not allow me to 
preach. You would say I was an unjust man. There 
is one thing, we must do as we preach about the love of 
God and mercy of God; we have also to stand up for 
His justice. He is a God of justice. God is not an un- 
just God. He does not command us to do anything we 
cannot do, and then punish us for not doing it. With 
the command comes the power to obey. He said to 
the man with the withered hand, "Stretch out thine 
hand." The man might have said, "Well, Lord, I 
have been trying to stretch out that hand for thirty 
years, but I could not do it." But with the command 
came the power. He said, "Stretch out thine hand," 
and out came the old withered arm, and was made whole 
before it got out straight from his body ; and so men are 
blessed in the very act of obedience. Not for just feel- 
ing or sentiment. What God wants is to have us obey. 
What is it to obey ? It is to repent and bring forth fruit 
meet for repentance. What does that mean? If you 
cheat a man out of five dollars, don't keep that five 
dollars. Give it back. If you are going to repent and 
turn to God, out with it! It don't belong to you. If 
some young man cheats his wash-woman by not paying 
Iiis wash- bill, or goes off without paying his boarding 
mistress, don't think you can repent and turn to God 
without paying up every dollar, and bringing forth fruit 
meet for repentance. 

In John Wesley's day, there was a hard case that came 
in among the Wesleys. He was one of the wildest men 
in Wales. He had been a drinking man for years. He 
ased to take great pleasure in defrauding men. He 
would drink and not pay for his drinks. He would gam- 



REPENTANCE. 150 

ble, and not pay what he had lost. He owed debts to 

nearly everybody. But he was converted, and soon after 
he was converted he had a little legacy left him, and he 
bought a horse and saddle and he started, and went from 
town to town and hunted up his old creditors and paid 
them dollar for dollar. Then he would preach in those 
towns, and tell them what great things God had done 
for him. But he hadn't enough money to go around and 
he sold the horse and saddle, and he paid up the very 
last dime. It is to pay the last dime- — that is repentance. 
We want a revival of righteousness here in the West. 
If we want any thing we want right living. We 
want a revival of honesty. When the Bible says, 
"Bring forth fruit meet for repentance," it means 
to make restitution. If you ruin a man, do what you 
can to help that poor fellow. If you have helped to 
pull any down, do all you can to help him up. If it takes 
the last dollar you have got, you must pay it, where you 
have taken from men dishonestly. 

When Mr. Sankey and I were in a town or city some 
time ago a man came to the inquiry room, and great 
drops of perspiration stood upon his brow. He was 
greatly excited and says, " Sir, I don't want to talk with 
you before these people. Can't we get off alone !" I 
took him off alone and he says, " The trouble with me 
is I am a defaulter." " Well," I said, " can you make 
restitution?" " No, sir; not for the whole amount." 
" How much is it?" " Fifteen hundred dollars." " How 
much can you pay back?" "About nine hundred dol- 
lars." But says he, " if I pay that back I will not have 
any thing to support my wife and children." I says, 
u Well, it don't belong to you, anyhow. You don't 
want it. No man can prosper with stolen money." 
Says he, " I want your advice ; I have a chance to go 
into business, and if I do not give back that money and 



160 REPENTANCE, 

go into business I think I can soon make up the $1,500 
and pay it back." I said, " No, that is the devil's work 
Don't take that stolen money and go into business. You 
will not prosper. God will turn your way upside down. 
He will hedge it up. ' He will turn the way of the 
wicked upside down.' What you want is to go to the 
root of the matter. Do right and God will bless you; 
but you can't ask God's blessing with stolen money." 1 
believe that is the reason so many do not flourish — they 
can't ask God's blessing upon their business on account 
of some dishonest act; they have lied in selling goods or 
something else. Says he, " I will disgrace my wife and 
children if I come out and confess." I said, " Not nec- 
essarily. You can do it through a third party. Not 
only that, but I think those men you defrauded would 
forgive you if they saw true signs of repentance." He 
said the terms were too hard. I said when he went off: 
" The spirit of God has hold of you. You will not sleep 
any. You will not have -rest until you pay back 
that money. It will not only burn in your pocket, but 
burn in your soul." He went off, and the next day he 
came back again, and he says: " Is there no other way?" 
Says I, " There is no other way. You don't want any 
other way. The right way is always the best way." 
Still he wanted to take some other way. Says I, " Do 
right, and let the consequences be what they will." He 
says, " I am afraid if I go back to those men they will 
just put me in prison." I says, " You had better go into 
prison with a clear conscience than be out with a guilty 
one. You won't have any peace with a guilty con- 
science. I have never heard of a man being put in 
prison that wanted to do right. Now, let me get those 
two men together and talk with them — see how they 
feel." He slunk from that; he said he could not do it. 
I said, " You can if you will." Finally he consented, 



REPENTANCE. 161 

and we sent for the two men and got them in a room 
alone. He brought to me a great, long envelope, with 
$98040 — took the last penny out of his wife's pocket- 
book, " It is all there, is it?" says I. "Every cent: it 
is all there." Those two men were sitting there in the 
room, and I took out the money and laid it down and 
told them the story, and great tears trickled down their 
cheeks. They said they would like to forgive him, and 
I went down and brought him up. It was one of the 
sweetest sights of my life. Those two men got down 
and prayed with that man. The question was settled. 
Then friends gathered around him and helped him. He 
is now a successful business man. God forgave him 
and his employers forgave him. He brought forth fruit 
meet for repentance. 

I believe the reason we do not have better work in 
this country is because there is so much sham. We do 
not go down to the bottom of things. O may God give 
us a revival of honesty ! downright, upright hon- 
esty! That is what we want — right living! If it 
costs the right eye, out with it! That is what repent- 
ance means. It is not just mere sentiment — going to 
meeting and singing and praying and having a good 
time, not squaring our life according to Scripture. God 
is going to draw the plummet line by and by, and He 
will have it right. We may deceive our friends and 
deceive one another, but let us keep in mind we cannot 
deceive God. If we attempt to cover up some sin, some 
dishonest act, and come to God with our prayers He will 
not accept them. They will not go higher than our 
heads. 

Some people say they cannot get an answer to their 
prayers. If they would get down to the bottom of 
things, they would find out the reason. They would 
find that there was something not correct in their lives, 



162 REPENTANCE, 

They have not made the work deep and thorough. Let 
us pray for one thing in Cleveland, let me ask the Chris- 
tians in this house to-night to pray for one thing, and 
that is that the Holy Ghost may convict us all of sin. 
Let it begin in the pulpit. If there is any one thing 
that I want more than any thing else it is that God 
may show me every thing in my life that is contrary 
to His will, and that He will give me grace enough to turn 
from it. I would rather do it — I would rather live so 
that God should be pleased with me than to have the ap- 
plause of the world. I would rather live so that God 
could say, " Well done, good and faithful servant," 
than just to accumulate a little wealth down here and 
have the applause of men for a few short years, and 
then know that I had not pleased Him. When will we 
wake up to the fact that it is more important to live to 
please God than man? 

And then how sweet our life will be, how pure our 
conscience will be, if God has ibrgiven every thing, if we 
have brought every thing to light, and turned from our 
sins, and the work has been deep and thorough! 

But one thought more before I close, and that is, what 
produces repentance. Paul says in the second chapter of 
Romans, and the fourth verse : " Or despisest thou the 
riches of His goodness and foib?arance and long suffer- 
ing; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee 
to repentance?" 

O, that the Lord may open our eyes to-night and 
show us how good He has been to us all these years. 

Now, the world has a false idea of God. I will ven- 
ture to say there is not an unsaved man or woman in 
this audience to-night, but has a false idea of God, and 
the reason you cannot repent is because you do not turn 
from that false idea. You have got an idea that God 
hates you — is a& enemy. That is as fake as any lie 



REPENTANCE. 163 

that ever came out of the pit of hell. There is not any 
truth in it. God loves the sinner. He so loved the 
world, He gave His only begotten Son to save sinners, 
Christ died for the ungodly, not the godly; for the 
sinner, not for the righteous. I want to say to every 
poor lost soul in this audience to-night: God loves you 
with an everlasting love although you may have hated 
Him, and trampled his laws under your feet. He loves 
you still. May the love of God to-night lead you 
to repentance. 

There is a story in English history of King Henry 
and his rebellious son, who rose up in arms against his 
father. The king was at last obliged to take his army 
and pursue that rebellious son. He drove him into a 
walled city in France, and while the poor fellow was in 
that city the father was besieging it for weeks and 
months. But the son fell sick, and while he was sick he 
began to think of the goodness and kindness of that 
father. At last it broke his heart, and he sent a messen* 
ger to his father to tell him that he repented of his past 
life in rebellion and asked his father to forgive him. But 
the old sire refused. He did not believe he was sincere. 
When the messenger brought back that message that 
his father would not forgive him he requested them to 
take him out of his bed and lay him in sack-cloth and 
ashes and in that condition he would die. When they 
told his father of it and he went to look at that boy and 
saw him in sack-cloth and ashes he fell on his face and 
cried as David did: "O my son, would God I had died 
for thee." 

That father made a mistake. He did not know that 
boy's heart. But God never makes any mistake. O 
sinner, if you ask him to-night for pardon He will pardon 
you. If you want the love of God shed abroad in your 
heart turn away from sin and see how quick He will 
receive you and how quick He will bless you. 



EXCUSED. 



I pray thee have me excused. — Luke, siv. 19. 

These three men that we read about to-night were 
not invited to hear some dry stupid sermon or lecture, 
but they were invited to a feast. The gospel in this 
parable is represented as a feast, and there was an invi- 
tation extended to these three men to come to the feast 
" And they all with one consent began to make excuse." 
It does not say that they had an excuse, but they made 
excuse — manufactured one for the occasion. 

Now excuses are as old as man. The first excuse that 
we hear of was in Eden. The first thing we hear after the 
fall of man, was man making excuse. Instead of Adam 
confessing his guilt like a man, he began to excuse him- 
self— -justify himself. That is what every man is trying 
to do — justify himself in his sins. Adam said, " It is 
this woman that thou gavest me." He hid behind her 
— mean, cowardly act. And it really was charging it 
back on God. "It is the woman that thou gavest me." 
Blaming God for his sin. From the time that Adam 
fell from the summit of Eden to the present time, man 
has been guilty of that sin, charging it back on God, as 
if God was responsible for his sin and God was guilty. 

Now, I venture to say that if I should go down among 
the congregation here to-night, every man that has not 
accepted this invitation would be ready with an excuse. 
You have all got excuses. You would have one right 
on the end of your tongue. You would be ready to 
meet me the moment I got to you. If I met that excuse, 

164: 



EXCUSED. 165 

then you would get another and you would hide behind 
that. Then, if I drove you out from behind that,- you 
would get another. And so you would go on, hiding 
behind some excuse—making some excuse; and if you 
should get cornered up and could not think of one, Satan 
would be there to help you make one. That has been 
his business for the past six thousand years. He is very 
good to help men make excuses, and undoubtedly he 
helped these three men we read of here to-night. No 
sooner do we begin to preach the gospel of the Son of 
God than men begin to manufacture excuses. They 
begin to hunt around to see if they cannot find some 
reason to give for not accepting the invitation. Excuses 
are the cradle, in other words, that Satan rocks men off 
to sleep in. He gets them into that cradle of excuses 
that they may ease their consciences. 

But let me say to you my friends, there is no man or 
woman in this assembly to-night that can give an excuse 
that w r ill stand the light of eternity. All these excuses 
that men are making are nothing but refuges of lies after 
all. We read in the prophecy of Isaiah that God shall 
sweep away these refuges of lies. When a man stands 
before God he will not be making excuses. His excuses 
will all be gone then, and he will be speechless. 

We read of that man that got into the feast without a 
wedding garment, and when the Lord of the feast came 
in he saw the man there. That man perhaps thought 
he could get in w r ith the crowd. Some people say, " O, 
I will go with the crowd." He thought he could get in 
with the crowd, and he would not be noticed. But that 
eye was keen to detect one that had on not the wedding 
garment. Do not think for a moment that God's eye 
is not upon you ? He knows how all these excuses are 
made. You cannot hide any thing from Him. You 
may make excuses and put on a sort of garment, and 



166 EXCUSED, 

\hu\js rou are justifying yourself in living away from God 
and i )t accepting this invitation; but really it is nothing 
that will stand the light of eternity. Things look alto- 
gether different when you stand before Him. 

Did you ever stop to think what would take place in 
a city like Cleveland if God should take every man and 
woman that wants to be excused at their word, and 
should say, " I will excuse you?" God took these three 
men that we read of at their word. He said, " Not one 
of them that were bidden shall taste of my supper." They 
spurned the invitation; they turned their backs upon it; 
and then God withdrew the invitation. " Not one of 
them that were bidden shall taste of my supper." Sup- 
pose that that should take place in Cleveland, and then 
by a stroke of Providence he should sweep every man 
and woman in Cleveland that wants to be excused from 
this feast into eternity. Suppose every man and woman 
that wanted to be excused from this feast should die 
inside of twenty-four hours ?, I think there would be 
plenty of room in this tabernacle to-morrow night for 
all that want to come. There would be a good many of 
your stores closed to-morrow. There would be no one 
to open them. Merchants, employes, clerks would all 
be gone. Every saloon in Cleveland would be closed 
up. Every rum-seiler wants to be excused from this 
feast. He can't get into the kingdom of God with a rum 
bottle in his hand. " Woe be to the man that putteth 
the bottle to his neighbor's lips," He knows very well 
that if he accepts this invitation he has got to give up his 
hellish traffic. Every blasphemer in Cleveland wants to 
be excused from this feast, because if he accepts this invi- 
tation he has got to give up his blasphemy. Every 
drunkard in Cleveland, every harlot, every thief, every 
dishonest man, every dishonest merchant would be gone. 
They want to be excused from this feast. Why? Be- 



EXCUSED. 167 

cause they have got to turn away from their sins if they 
accept of this invitation. The longer I live the more I 
am convinced that the reason men do not come to 
Christ is because they do not want to give up sin. That 
is the trouble. It is not their intellectual difficulties. It 
is quite popular for people to say that they have got in- 
tellectual difficulties; but if they would tell the honest 
truth it is some darling sin that they are holding on to. 
They are not willing to give up the harlot; they are not 
willing to give up gambling; they are not willing to 
give up drinking, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, 
and the pride of life. That is the trouble. It is not their 
intellectual difficulties as much as it is their darling sin, 
The grass would soon be growing in your streets in 
Cleveland if God should take every man at his word and 
excuse him from this feast and take him away. Things 
would look altogether different in your city inside of a 
week if God should excuse you that want to be excused. 
And yet the moment that God sends out His invitation 
excuses just run right in. " I pray thee have me ex- 
cused." That is the cry to-day. Man prepares his feast, 
and there is a great rush to get the best seats. God 
prepares his feast — and what a feast it is! Think of it! 
It is not often that common people like you and me get 
an invitation to a royal feast. There is many a man that 
has lived in Windsor Castle for fifty years, and has never 
got sight of Queen Victoria. There are men in London 
that stand high, men of wealth, men of position who 
never were invited into her palace. Men think it is a 
great honor to be invited into a king's palace or the 
palace of a queen. But here we are invited to the mar- 
riage of the Lamb. We are invited by the Lord of glory 
to come to the marriage of His only begotten son, and 
men begin to make excuses. u I pray thee, have ma 
excused." 



168 EXCUSED. 

Now let us look for a moment at the excuses that these 
three men gave. The first man might have been very 
polite. Some men are very polite. Some are very 
gruff, and treat you with a great deal of scorn and con- 
tempt. The moment you begin to talk to them they 
say, " You attend to your business and I will attend to 
mine." But I can imagine this man was a very polite 
man and he said, " I wish you would take back this mes- 
sage to your Lord, that I would like to be at that feast. 
Tell him there is not a man in the kingdom that would 
rather be there than myself, but I am so situated that I 
can't come. Just tell him I have bought me a piece of 
ground, and that I must needs go and see it" Queer 
time to go and see to land, wasn't it? Just at that supper 
time. They were invited to supper, you see. But he 
must needs go and see it. He had not made a par- 
tial bargain and wanted to go and close the bargain. 
He did not have that good excuse. He had bought the 
land, and he must needs go and see it. Could he not 
go and see this land the next morning? Could he not 
have accepted this invitation and then gone and seen his 
land? If he had been a good business man, some one 
has said, he would have gone and looked at the land be- 
fore he bought it But the land was already bought, 
and the trade made. He did not say, " I want to get the 
deed on record, because I am afraid some one else will 
get a deed of it, and get it on record first, and I will 
lose it. He had not got that good an excuse. The only 
excuse he had was. " I have bought me a piece of 
ground and I must needs go and see it." You will see 
it was a lie right on the face of it. It was just manu- 
factured to ease that man's conscience. He did not want 
to go to the feast, and he had not the common honesty 
to come out with it and say, " I don't want to go to the 
feast, but just take back word that I have bought me a 



EXCUSED. 169 

piece of ground and I must needs go and aee it," and 
away he went. How many men aie giving their busi- 
ness as an excuse for not accepting this invitation! You 
talk to them about things pertaining to the kingdon of 
God, and they tell you they have got to attend to busi- 
ness; that business is rery pressing. It does not say that 
this was a bad man. He might have been as moral 
as any man in Cleveland. He might have held as 
high a position as any man in Cleveland. He might 
have ridden in his chariot. He might have been a very 
liberal man to the poor. He might have been a very 
benevolent man. He might have given his substance, 
but he neglected to accept this invitation, and Christ 
teaches us plainly that if we neglect this salvation how 
shall we escape the damnation of hell. 

People say, "What have I done? I have not got 
drunk; I have not murdered; I have not lied; I have 
not stolen. What have I done ? " I will take you on 
the ground that you have not done anything — I will not 
admit that for a moment, but suppose I take you on that 
ground. If a man neglects salvation he will be lost. 
You see a man in yonder river, his oars lying in the bot- 
tom of his boat, and he is out there in the current, his 
arms are folded, and the current is quietly drawing him 
toward the rapids. Some one warns him: " Say, friend, 
you are hastening toward the rapids." No, I am doing 
nothing, sir. My frms are folded. What have I 
done?" "But you are drawing toward the rapids." "I 
tell you sir, I am not; I am doing nothing." You may 
try to convince him but he will be blind. So indeed he 
*s not doing anything, but that current is quietly draw- 
ing him toward the cataract, and in a few moments he 
will go over. Many a man is flattering himself that he 
is not doing anything, but let him neglect salvation and 
he k lost 



170 EXCUSED, 

The next man's excuse was one manufactured for .the 
occasion. It was not one whit better than the excuse of 
the first man : u Take back word to thy lord that I can- 
not come. I have got pressing business. I have bought 
five yoke of oxen and I must needs go to prove them." 
As if he had to prove his oxen that night at supper time 
He had plenty of time to prove his oxen. He had 
bought them. They were in his stall. But the fact was, 
he was like the first _man; he did not want to go and 
had not the common honesty to say so, and so he says, 
" I have bought five yoke of oxen and I must needs go 
and prove them." He must go right off that night to 
prove them. That is his excuse. There is not a child 
five years old that cannot see that that excuse is just 
manufactured. 

These men began to make excuse. They did not 
have one — they manufactured excuses to ease their con- 
sciences. It was nothing but a downright lie; that is 
what it was. Let us call things by their right names. 
People think if they can make a sort of plausible excuse 
they are justified. But these excuses are nothing but 
refuges of lies. 

The third man's excuse is more absurd than the others; 
" I have married me a wife, and therefore I cannot come. " 
Who likes to go to a feast better than a young bride? 
He might have taken his wife with him. He had no ex- 
cuse. That was the excuse he was hiding behind. u I 
have married me a wife, and therefore I cannot come." If 
his wife would not go with him, he could let her stay at 
home, and he could go. This has got to be a personal 
matter. We are not going to heaven in families, as I 
said last night. It is a thing between you and your God. 
The invitation was extended to that man as the head of 
his own house. He was priest over his own household, 
and he had no excuse; but he just made up that excuse. 



EXCUSKB. 171 

Now, there is nothing on record, you might say, against 
those three men. You might say there were a good 
many things noble about those men. It does not say that 
they were licentious; it does not say that they were 
drunkards; it does not say that they were dishonest; it 
does not say that they were thieves, but they only made 
excuses so as not to be at that feast, They did not want 
to accept of the feast, 

I notice some of you smile as I take up those three ex- 
cuses; but I would like to ask this congregation this 
question: Have you a better one? Come! I see a 
young man laughing down there. Have you a better 
excuse yourself? Come! Eighteen hundred years have 
rolled away, and they tell us we are living in a very wise 
age, that we are living in a very intellectual age, that 
men are growing much wiser, and that we know a good 
deal more than our fathers did; but with all men's boast- 
ed knowledge, can you find a man to-day who has a bet- 
ter excuse than those three men had? During the last 
three years I have spent most of my time talking to peo- 
ple about their salvation — their individual difficulties, and 
I have yet to find the first man or the first woman that 
can give me a better excuse than those three men had. 
I tell you that man or that woman cannot be found to- 
day. I will defy any man to come forward to-night and 
give me a better excuse than those three men had. The 
excuses men are hiding behind to-day are fearful. There 
is not an excuse that you w r ould dare to give to God, 
Things look altogether different when you come to stand 
before Him. 

Take a piece of paper, if you have it in your pockety 
and a pencil and write down, " Why should I serve the 
God of this world? Second, Why should I serve the 
God of the Bible ?" Then put down your reasons why 
yov should serve the God of this world, and your re»- 



172 EXCUSED. 

sons why you should serve the God of the Bible, and see 

how it looks; because it is clearly taught that we either 
serve the God of this world or the God of heaven. We 
cannot be neutral. There is no neutrality about this mat- 
ter. We are either for God or against him. We can- 
not serve God and mammon. We are either serving the 
God of this world — that is, S&tan— =or_ we are serving the 
God of heaven. The line is drawn. You may not be 
able to see it, but God sees it. God knows the heart of 
every man and woman in this assembly. He knows all 
about us, and He sees right through the excuses we make. 
He looks at the heart. He does not look at the excuses 
you make. Those are only from the tongue. They are 
only manufactured in the head. He knows that the dif- 
ficulty lies down in the heart. It is because you will not 
come unto Him. It is not because men cannot come; it 
is because men set their wills up against God's will, and 
are not willing to yield. 

One of the popular excuses of the present day is this 
good old book, the Bible. It is amazing to hear some 
men talk. I have touched upon this a number of times 
since I have come to Cleveland, but I find as I come out 
West a good deal of infidelity ; men profess to be infi 
dels. It is astonishing to hear them talk about the Bible 
— something they do not know anything about. I can 
find scarcely one of them that has ever looked into it and 
"ead it, and who knows anything about it. They have 
heard some infidel lecture — some scoffing, sneering man 
come along caviling at the Bible, and they have heard 
some few things that man has said, and they bring them 
out on all occasions. They will not look into that book 
and ask God to help them to understand it. If a man 
will be honest with God, God will be honest with him. 
There is no trouble about this book; the trouble is witfa 
the life. 



EXCUSED. 173 

Wilmot, the great infidel, as he lay dying, putting his 
hand upon that Book, said : " The only thing against 
that Book is a bad life." When a man has got a bad 
record against him, he wants to get that Book out of the 
way, because it condemns him; that is the trouble. The 
trouble is not with the Book; it is with your record and 
mine. Because that Book condemns sin we want to get 
it out of the way. Men do not like to be condemned ; 
that is the trouble. 

Then men say they cannot understand it. Well, you 
and the Bible agree exactly. A man was telling me 
some time ago that he could not understand the Bible. I 
said, " You and the Bible agree exactly." He said, " I 
don't agree with the Bible at all." u Well," I said, " you 
agree exactly," and I referred him to a passage in the 
prophecy of Daniel — " Many shall be purified and made 
white and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly, and 
none of the wicked shall understand." That is what 
Scripture says. If a man is living in sin, God is not 
going to reveal to that man his secrets. 

I would like to ask those men who are giving this 
Bible as an excuse for not becoming Christians, who 
wrote that book? Did bad men write it? It is a very 
singular thing that they should write their own con- 
demnation, isn't it? How that book condemns bad men. 
Bad men would not write their own condemnation, 
^rould they? They do not do it now-a-days, do they? 
They are the last ones to write their own condemnation. 
Well, if good men wrote a bad book, they could not be 
good, could they? 

Now, it seems to me, that if a man will stop to think 
a moment he will see that the trouble is not with the 
book. The trouble is with himself. And when a man 
bows to the will of God, that book becomes food to hie 
souL He can feed on it then ; there is something to feed 



174 EXCUSED. 

on. He gets life from it; he gets power, and he gets 

something that tells him how he can get victory over 
himself. I consider that the greatest triumph a man can 
have in this world. A man that knows how to rule 
himself is greater than he that taketh a city. Look at 
the misery and woe that has come into the world through 
that one door — men and women that cannot control them- 
selves, that cannot control their tempers, their lusts, their 
passions, and their appetites. That book tells me how I 
can get victory over myself; and it is the only book in 
the wide world that can tell a man how to get victory 
over himself. I haven't time to dwell upon that excuse 
any longer. 

There is another very common excuse, and I have 
heard it in Cleveland as much as any: " Why," they say, 
" Mr. Moody, you know it is a very hard thing to be a 
Christian — a very hard thing." When they tell me that 
I like to ask them, " which is the hardest master, the 
devil" — for we will call him by his right name, because 
every man that serves not the Lord Jesus Christ, and will 
have nothing to do with the God of the Bible, is serving 
the god of this world. " Now which is the easiest 
master?" 

Christ says that His yoke is easy and His burden is 
light. Now you go right along and say, " That is a 
lie." You don't say it right out in plain English, but we 
may as well talk plainly to-night. When you say it is 
hard to be a Christian you say that God is a liar; that it 
is an easier thing to serve the god of this world than it 
is the God of the Bible. Now, I want to say that I con- 
sider that one of the greatest lies that ever came out of 
the pit of hell ; and how Satan can stand up in this nine- 
teenth century and make men believe he is an easier 
master than the God of heaven, is one of the greatest 

mysteries of the present day. 
8 



£XCvS£D, 175 

" The way of the transgressor is hard," Blot it out if 
you can. Close up that book, and you will see the evi- 
dence of that fact all around you. There is not a day 
passes but you can read upon the pages of the daily 
papers, " The way of the transgressor is hard.'* I wish 
I could drive that lie back into hell where it came from. 

You go over to the Tombs in New York city and you 
will find c little iron bridge running from the police court 
where the men are tried right into the cell. I think the 
New York officials have not been noted for their piety 
in your time and mine; but they had put up there in 
iron letters on that bridge, " The way of the transgressor 
is hard." They know that is true. Blot it out if you can. 
God Almighty said it. It is true. " The way of the 
transgressor is hard." On the other side of that bridge 
they put these words: "A bridge of sighs." I said to 
one of the officers, " What did you put that up there 
for?" He said that most of the young men (for most of 
the criminals are young men. "The wicked don't live 
out their days " — Put that in with it) — he said most of 
the young men as they passed over that iron bridge went 
over it weeping. So they called it the Bridge of Sighs. 
" What made you put that other there: c The way of the 
transgressor is hard ?' " " Well," he said, " it is hard. I 
fchink if you had anything to do with this prison you 
would believe that text, f The way of the transgressor is 
hard.' " 

If a man will just look around him and keep in mind 
this one truth, " The way of the transgressor is hard," 
he will be thoroughly convinced inside of twenty-foiL 
hours that that passage of scripture is true. It is not that 
God's service is hard. The trouble with men is they are 
trying to serve God with the old Adam nature. They 
are trying to serve God before they are bom of God. 
Now, to tell a man in the flesh to serve God in the spirit. 



176 EXCUSED. 

who is a Spirit, I would just as soon tell a man to try to 
jump over the moon and expect him to do it. He can- 
not do it. The natural man is not subject to the law 
of God and neither indeed can be. You are not to try 
to serve God until you are born of God, until you are 
born again, born from above, until you are born 
of the spirit; and when a man is born of the spirit the 
yoke is easy and the burden is light. I have been in the 
service upwards of twenty years, and I want to testify 
to-night that my Master is not a hard Master. What 
say you ministers here to-night, Do you find him a hard 
Master? Speak out. I thought you would say so. 

Ah, my friends, He is not a hard Master. I want to 
have you remember that. No, He is not a hard Master. 
That is one of the lies coming from the pit. " My yoke 
is easy and my burden is light." When a man submits 
his heart and will to God — takes Christ into his heart 
and lives a life of faith, it is delightful. 

Now, I will tell you a good way to get at this. Put 
you people into a jury box. Just imagine you are on a 
jury to-night. I will take the most faithful follower the 
Lord Jesus has got in Cleveland. I don't know who the 
person is, it may be a man or woman that the papers, 
perhaps, have no record of. God knows where His 
loved ones are. It may be some poor person off in some 
dark street, but it is one who has great faith and walks 
with God, whose life is as pure and spotless and blame- 
less as any person that you can find; one that has been 
living with Jesus Christ, say fifty years. Let. that per- 
son come up on this platform to-night and speak out and 
testify. You will see in his face that he has not had a hard 
Master. There will be no wrinkles in that brow. There 
will be light in the eye, there will be peace stamped 
upon that brow, joy beaming from that countenance. 
He need not speak ; let that person stand here and by hi* 

8 



EXCUSED. 177 

face ne v\ ill show he h:*s had a good Mastei and an easy 
Master. 

Now, find the most faithful follower that the devil 
has got in Cleveland. Let him or her come up here. 
Ah! you n^ed not speak. I think you would say 4S that 
is enough." You can tell by the looks, for the devil 
puts his mark upon his own. He stamps the mark deep, 
Men may try to get rid of it, but they carry the mark. 
And the Lord Jesus puts his stamp upon his own. You 
take the two and draw the contrast and see if that lie 
chat has come from Satan is not as great a lie as ever 
was told— that our Lord is a hard Master. When peo- 
ple say they would like to become a christian, but it is a 
hard thing to be a christian, they virtually say God is a 
hard Master and Satan is an easy one. 

Now do you think it easy to go against your own con- 
victions? Because that is what men do. They have to 
stifle conscience to serve the god of this world and turn 
the back on the God of the Bible. Do you think it is 
an easy thing to go against your own judgment? For if 
a man will just stop and consult his judgment, his judg- 
ment will tell him that the safest, and wisest, and best 
thing he can do is to believe on the God of the Bible, 
[§ it an easy thing to go against the advice and "wishes 
of the best friends you have got? There is not a person 
in this congregation to-night that has got a true friend 
that would not advise him to serve the God of heaven, 
A man or woman that would advise you to serve the 
god of this world would be the worst enemy you could 
have. They would make the world dark and bitter. 
Is it an easy thing to trample a mother's prayers under 
your feet? to break a mother's heart and send her down 
to an untimely grave? That is easy, is it? Ah! many a 
man has done it. You call that easy. Is it easy to go 
against the very best counsel and advice you have from the 



178 »xeusj£»« 

best and most loved friends you have got? He&i wLsi 

the Master said to Saul: " Saul, Saul, why pcrseiutost 
thou me? It is hard for thee" — he did not talk about its 
being hard for the disciples that Saul was going to put 
in prison, and, perhaps, have them stoned to death like 
Stephen. It was not as hard for Stephen to be stoned 
to death as it was for Saul to persecute him. " Saul, 
Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to 
kick against the pricks, 9 ' It is hard for a man to contend 
with his Maker. It is hard for a man to fight against the 
God of the Bible. It is an unequal controversy. It is 
an unequal battle, and God is going to have the victory. 
It is folly for a man to attempt to fight against the God 
of that Bible. 

Mr. Spurgeon uses this parable of a tyrant ordering a 
subject into his presence and saying to him : " What is 
your occupation ?" "I am a blacksmith." " Well," says he, 
" I want you to go and make a chain a certain length," 
and he gave him nothing to make it with, " and on a certain 
day I want you to bring it into my presence." That 
day came. The blacksmith,- appeared with his chain. 
The tyrant says: " Take that chain and make it twice 
that length." He took it, worked a long time and made 
it twice the length, and brought it back. The tyrant 
says: "Take that chain and make it twice the length." 
He made it twice the length and he had to get friends to 
help him get in the presence of the tyrant, and when 
he brought it back the tyrant says to his men standing 
around, " Take that man and bind him hand and foot 
and cast him into a dungeon;" and says Mr. Spurgeon, 
" That is what every man that is serving the God of 
this world is doing — forging the chain that is going to 
bind him. A man goes into a saloon and takes a social 
glass. You step up and tell that man of his danger; 
that he is binding himself, and that by and by he will be 



fixcu&Sfe. 179 

bound hand and foot, and he will laugh you to scorn and 
mock you; but he goes on adding link after link to that 
chain. By and by the tyrant has got him bound, and he 
says: " Now, let us see you assert your freedom." Men 
say they don't want to give up their freedom. There is 
no freedom until a man knows the Lord Jesus Christ. 
A man is a slave to sin, to his passions and lusts until 
Christ snaps the fetters and sets him free. 

There was a man I used to know in Chicago that I 
talked to a great many times about drinking. He was a 
business man. He used to say: " I can stop when I 
please." One night I went out, and my family heard a 
strange noise. We lived on the corner. They heard 
him coming down the side street and he made an 
unearthly noise, and my wife said to the servants, " Are 
the doors locked ? " He came around to the front door 
and tried to burst the door open. My wife says, " What 
do you want?" " Oh," he says, " I want to see your 
husband." " Well, he has gone down to the meeting." 
Away he started. I was walking down to the church 
and he went by me. He was running so fast he could 
not stop. He went on a rod or two and came back. 
The poor fellow was nearly frightened out of his life. 
He says, " I have got to die to-night." "Oh, no, you 
are not going to die." " I have got to die to-night." 
"Why," says I, "what is the trouble?" and I found the 
man had drank so much that he was under the power of 
the enemy. I saw what his trouble was. " Why," he 
says, " Satan is coming to my house to-night to take me 
to hell," and says he " I have got to go." I begged of 
him to let me stay till one o'clock. He told me at one 
o'clock he will be back after me. I said, " He will not 
come after you." " He will ; there is no chance of my 
getting away from him. He is coming!" Well I 
couldn't convince that man. Poor man I He had been 



180 EXCUSED. 

serving the god of this world, and now he was reaping 
what he had been sowing. On that night I had six 
men come to that man's house and at one o'clock those six 
men could not hold him. " Look there I see him I There 
they are! They are after me! He is taking me! He is 
going to take me to hell ! He is after me ! " I thought 
that man would really die. Poor man! He is one of 
those men that thought God a hard master and the devil 
was one that was easy. That is the way the devil 
serves his subjects. Reaping time is coming. Poor 
man, he suffered untold agonies that night. Yet men, 
with all these witnesses around them, will go on drink- 
ing. A young man will go from this Tabernacle 
to night, and go down to a saloon and order a glass and 
drink, and go on drinking, until by and by delirium 
seizes him and the snakes crawl around his body, and 
would seem as if death would lay right hold of him. I 
can't describe it It would take some of these men that 
have been there to tell you about it Oh, tell me that 
the devil is an easy master and that God is a hard one! 
Away with that lie; away with that excuse. My 
friends, never give it as long as you live. It is false. 

When I was in Paris I saw a little oil painting, only 
about a foot square; it was at the Paris Exposition in 
1867. I was going through the Art Gallery, and on that 
painting there was a little piece of white paper that 
attracted my attention. I went and looked at that white 
paper, and it said, u Sowing Tares," and there was the 
most hideous countenance I think I ever saw. A man was 
taking out a handful of seed, sowing tares all around 
him, and wherever a tare dropped there grew up some 
vile reptile, and they were crawling up his body and all 
around him. Off in the distance was a dark thicket, 
and prowling around the borders of that forest were 
wild beasts and that hellish and fiendish look! What a 



EXCUSED. 181 

fearful thing it is for a man to sow tares when he U a 
going to reap them. And yet man goes on sowing with 
a liberal hand, and laughs and scoffs when we warn him 
and tell him what he is coming to by and by. The 
papers are full of it. I sometimes think these papers 
ought to preach the Gospel to the people — ought to 
warn them to flee from the wrath to come. 

Look at that case we have just had in a court in New 
Jersey. Look at that poor man. For four long days 
the jury has been out. I don't know when my heart 
has been more touched than when I read that scene in 
court, when those little children climbed up on their 
father's knee and said, "Papa, papa, come home. 
Mamma cries so much now you are away." The law 
had him. Poor man! He reaped what he sowed. He 
had an uncontrollable temper. He took his weapon 
and shot down a coachman because he got mad with 
him. He never will get over it. He never can step 
back into the place where he was. The jury may acquit 
him. Poor man; he has got to reap a bitter, bitter 
reaping; what an awful thing sin is; and yet men will 
stand up with all these facts around them and tell you 
God is a hard master and the devil an easy one. 

Let us look at the scene in the court. A young man 
just coming into manhood, twenty-one, promising, tal- 
ented, gifted, beautiful young man, an only son; but he 
has been out drinking, and in a drunken spree helped 
kill a man, and now he is on trial for his life. In that 
court sits his father and mother and three lovely sisters. 
That is the only brother they have got. That is the 
only son they have got. The jury bring in the verdict, 
guilty ; the man is sentenced to the penitentiary for life. 

And with all these facts people stand up and say God 
is a hard master and the devil is an easy one. O, that 
the God of heaven may open our eyes to-night to show 



182 EXCUSED. 

us how wicked it is to give these excuses, and that W€ 
will have to answer for them at the bar of God — for a 
person with an open Bible to say that God is a hard mas- 
ter and that Satan is an easy one. 

I remember of closing a young men's meeting in Chi- 
cago a few years ago, when a young man got up and 
said, " Mr. Moody, would you allow me to say a few 
words?" And I said, « Say on." « Weil," said he, « I 
want to say to these young men, that if they have friends 
that care for them, and friends that love them, and that 
are praying for them — I want to say you had better treat 
them kindly, for you will not always have them. I want 
to tell you something in my own experience. I was an 
only son, and I had a very godly father and mother. No 
young man in Chicago had a better father and mother 
than I had ; and because I was an only child, I suppose, 
they were very anxious for my salvation, and they used 
to plead with me to come to Christ. My father many a 
time at the family altar used to break down in his at- 
tempt to pray for his only boy. At last my father died, 
and after my father died my mother became more anx- 
ious than ever that I should become a Christian. Some 
times she would come and put her loving arms around 
my neck and say, * My boy, if you were only a Christian 
I would be so happy. If you would take your father's 
place at the family worship, and help me worship God, 
it would cheer your mother.' I used to push her away 
and say, i Mother, don't talk to me that way; I don't 
want to become a Christian yet, I w r ant to see something 
of the world.' Sometimes I would wake up in the night 
and hear my mother praying, i O, God, save my boy!' 
and it used to trouble me, and at last I ran away to get 
away from my mother's influence, and away from her 
prayers. I became a wanderer. I did not let her know 
where I went When I did hear from home indirectly, 



EXCUSED. 183 

I heard that that mother was sick. I knew what it 
meant. I knew it was my conduct that was crushing 
that mother and breaking her heart, and I thought I 
would go home and ask her forgiveness. Then the 
thought came that if I did I would have to become a 
Christian, and my proud heart would not yield. I would 
not go. Months went on, and I heard again indirectly. 
I believe that if my mother had known where I was she 
would have come to me. I believe she would have gone 
around the world to find her boy. And when I heard 
that she was worse, the thought came over me that she 
might not recover, and I thought that I would go home 
and cheer her lonely heart, There was no railway in 
the town, and I had to take the stage. I got into town 
about dark. The moon had just begun to shine. My 
mother lived back about a mile and a half from the hotel, 
and I started back on foot, and on my way I had to go 
by the village grave-} ard. When I got to it I thought I 
would go and see if there w r as a new-made grave. I 
can't tell why, but my heart began to droop, and as I 
drew near that spot I trembled. By the light of the 
moon I saw a new-made grave. For the first time in 
my life this question came stealing over me, Who is 
going to pray for my lost soul now? Father has gone 
and mother is dead. They are the only two that ever 
cared for me, the only two that ever prayed for me. I 
took up the earth and saw that the grave was a new- 
made grave; I saw that my mother had just been laid 
away; and, young men, I spent that night by my moth- 
er's grave. I did not leave it until day-break; but as 
the morning sun came up, right there by my mother's 
grave, I gave myself away to my mother's God, and then 
and there settled the great question of eternity, and I be- 
came a child of God. I never will forgive myself, I 
murdered that sainted mother." 



184 BXCUSEB. 

Poor man! He was reaping what he sowed. Tell 
me that the way of the transgressor is easy! Tell me 
that God is a hard master, and that the devil is an easy 
one! Young men, take the God of your mother; take 
the God of the Bible to be your God. Set your faces 
like a flint towards heaven to-night, and it will be the 
best night of your life. I wish I could say something to 
induce you to come to Christ. I wish I could see souls 
pressing into the kingdom of God. May the PV of all 
grace touch every heart here to-night 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. 



And they laid him in a manger, because there was no room 
for them in the inn. — Luke it 7. 

For four thousand years the Jews had been looking 
for this child. Away back in Eden before Adam and 
Eve were driven out, God had promised that the seed of 
the woman should bruise the serpent's head. And from 
Adam, all along down the ages, they had been looking out 
into the mist and into the future for this child. The 
prophets had propheised of his coming and the nation 
had been in expectation. They were studying at that 
very time the prophecies to find out when he would 
appear. And the first thing that we hear when He 
comes to this country, there was not room for Him in 
that little inn at Bethlehem. He might have come 
with all the pomp, and the glory and grandeur of the 
upper world. Perhaps if He had come with the glory of 
the angels, and the glory of the Father, and His own 
glory as he will by and by, the nation would have 
received Him then, because there would have been some- 
thing that would have pleased the flesh. But the idea of 
His coming in such lowliness, the idea of His coming m 
such humility — the natural man did not like it. 

Just think for a moment what He came for: He came 
to give rest to the weary; to seek and to save that 
which was lost; to give sight to the blind; to help those 
that needed help; to reveal the Father; to bring peace 
where there was trouble; to heal the broken-hearted. 

And yet there was not room for him! 

185 



186 **° ROOM FOR HIM* 

When the Prince of Wales visited this country, a few 
years ago, there was plenty of room for him. There 
was not any part of this Nation that was not glad to 
give him a welcome. Every city was anxious that he 
should visit them. Every tow T n and village and hamlet 
was open, and would have given him a royal welcome 
if he would have come to their place. When the 
princes of Europe have come to this country, what a 
welcome they have had. Although this is a Republican 
Government, yet we have been willing to give the 
princes of earth a welcome. And yet when the Prince 
of Heaven came down into this world, what a welcome 
did He receive? They laid Him in the manger because 
there was no room for Him in the inn. But I can 
imagine some one says : " They did not know Him. If 
they had known who He was they would have given 
Him a welcome." I think you are geatly mistaken, 
because we read that when the wise men arrived from the 
East in Jerusalem, and said to the king, " Where is He 
that is born king of the Jews," not only Herod, but all 
Jerusalem was thrown into trouble. Herod told those 
wise men to go down into Bethlehem and inquire 
diligently about the young child, and bring him word, 
that he too, might go down and worship the child. A 
lying hypocrite! He wanted to slay the child. 

Not only Jerusalem closed her doors against Him, but 
when He went back to Nazareth, where He was brought 
up, and brought the best news that was ever brought to 
any town — when He went back to Nazareth with the 
glorious Gospel of God, Nazareth did not want Him. 
They took Him out of the Synagogue; they took Him 
to the brow of the hill, and they would have hurled Him 
into perdition if they could. They did not want Him, 
There was not room for Him. 

But, my friends, it is a very common saying now that 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. 187 

the world has grown wiser and better, that we have 
been improving, and that if Christ should return, things 
would be different, that we are in light, and that He 
came in a dark age, that He was not then welcome, but 
He would be now. 

But I would like to ask you to think for a little while. 
What nation would give him a welcome now? Do you 
know of any? They call America a Christian nation, 
but has America room for the Son of God ? Does 
America want Him? Suppose it could be put to a 
popular vote ; do you suppose this nation would vote to 
have Him come and reign? He would not carry a ward 
in this city ; you know it very well. He would not carry 
a town or a precinct in the United States; you know it 
very well. A great many of your so-called Christians 
would say, "We don't want Him, we are not ready." 
Things would have to be straightened up, and there 
would be a great change if Christ should come. The 
way men are doing business, I think, would have to be 
straightened out. Business men don't want Him. You 
put it to the commercial men of the present day, and do 
you think they would want Him? Do you think all the 
tricks in trade would be carried on if He were here ? Do 
you think all this rascality that is going on at the present 
day under the garb of commerce — a great many very 
able men are engaged in it — but do you think they 
want Him to come ? When He comes He is going to 
reign in righteousness. I would like to have you tell 
me to-night of any class of people that would like to 
have Him come back. Do you think your politicians 
would want Him ? Do you think the Republican party 
would want Him ? Do you think they would give Him 
a welcome ? Do you think the Democratic party would 
want Him? What would they do with Him? they have 
not got room for Him ? they do not want Him. All this 



188 HO ROOM FOR HIM. 

rascality that is carried on in politics would have to be 
done away with if He came to reign in righteousness. 

Does your fashionable society want Him — what they 
call the " upper ten " of the present time ? Go up on one 
of your avenues to some fashionable party, and see if 
they want Him. Begin to talk there about a personal 
Christ, and how precious He is to the soul, and you will 
not be invited a second time. They do not want Him, 
and they do not want you if you live godly in Christ 
Jesus. 

The fact is, there is not any room down here for the 
Son of God. Let a man get up in Congress and say, 
" Thus saith the Lord," and they will hoot him out of it. 
Do you think all this trickery and rascality that is car- 
ried on in halls of legislation would go on if Christ 
should reign in righteousness— -men selling their votes, 
men buying votes. 

If you will stop and think a little while you will find 
that not only this country, but no other country wants 
Him. Do you think England wants Him? I think 
that hellish traffic of liquor would have to be given up; 
the opium trade with China, and a great many other 
things would have to be given up. That is called a 
Christian nation. Let a man get up in Parliament and 
say, " Thus saith the Lord," and he would be hooted 
down. The cry of the nation is, " Who is the Lord that 
we should obey Him ?" The voice of the king of Egypt 
has been echoing through the world ever since. The 
world has not room for Christ 

When He was here and went from village to village, 
and from town to town, He did not receive a welcome; 
they did not want Him. 

Eighteen hundred years have passed since then; His 
Gospel has been proclaimed over hill and dale; men have 
gone across seas and deserts and into all lands proclaim- 



NO ROOM FOR HIM* 189 

ing the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and yet there are a gvt^t 
many people right within the sound of the Gospel that 
do not want Him. The moment that you begin to 
preach about the Son of God they put on a long face as 
if you had brought them a death warrant; makes them 
gloomy. Oh! how the devil has deceived the world! 
How men are under the power of the god of this world! 
Jesus Christ did not come to cast us down, but to lift us 
up. He did not come to make life dark and gloomy; he 
came to make life sweet and beautiful; and when people 
make room in their hearts for the Son of God he will 
light them up. The heart that is sad and cast down will 
be light and joyful. He came to bless the world. He 
that was rich became poor for your sake and mine. He 
might have come with all the pomp and glory of that 
upper world. He might have been born in a palace and 
fed with a golden spoon. But He passed by palaces and 
went into a manger, that He might get down into sym- 
pathy with the poorest and the lowest. His cradle was 
a borrowed one. The guest chamber \^ here they insti- 
tuted the supper was a borrowed one. 

The beast upon which he rode into Jerusalem was a 
borrowed one. The only time we hear of His riding was 
on a borrowed beast. We find also that the sepulchre 
that they laid Him in was a borrowed one. The house 
He lived in was a hired one or a borrowed one. He that 
was rich and had all the glory of that upper world, who 
Himself created the world, became poor for your sake 
and mine. He laid aside ail the honor and glory He had 
in that upper world; He laid aside those robes and came 
down here and tasted of poverty for your sake and mine, 
<md yet the world turn up their noses and say, " I have 
no desire for him ; I don't want him." There is a pass- 
age in the 7th of John — 1 think the 7th and 8th chapters 
never should have been divided — the 7th chapter closes 



190 NO ROOM FOR HIM, 

up in this way — he had been lifting the standard 
very high that day, and many of his disciples left him, 
" Every man went unto his own house, and Jesus went 
to the Mount of Olives," the opening of the 8th chapter 
says. I can imagine that night was one of those lonely 
nights. He came into the world to bless the world, and 
the world didn't want to be blessed. He came to do 
men good, and they didn't want to receive any thing 
from Him. " And every man went to his own house.'* 
Every door in Jerusalem that night was closed against 
him. At one time he said, " The foxes have holes, the 
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not 
where to lay His head." Think of it-— the little bird you 
see flitting by you has its nest — its home; the fox has its 
hole, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head 
I used to think I would like to have lived in that day. I 
would like to have had a home in Jerusalem to have in- 
vited Him to my home to be my guest, and to sit at His 
feet as Mary did, and let him talk to me. But I suppose 
if I had lived at that day my door would have been closed 
against Him. But I remember thinking over it some 
time ago, and the thought came stealing over me : There 
is one place I can give the Son of God a welcome — just 
one place, and that is my heart. It is the only place He 
wants to dwell. Now if we make room in our hearts for 
Him, He will gladly come and dwell with us. 

There was a woman right in the midst of this dark- 
ness, when many disciples left him, who came and invited 
him to her home — a woman by the name of Martha. I 
can imagine Martha coming from Bethany one day, and 
going to Jerusalalem to the temple to worship, when the 
great Galilean Prophet came in, and she listened to his 
words, who spake as never man spake. And as the 
words fell from his lips they fell upon Martha's ear, and 
she says : " Well, I will invite him to my house." It 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. 191 

must have cost her something to do that. Christ was 
anpopular. There was a hiss going up in Jerusalem 
against him. They called Him an imposter. The lead- 
ing men of the nation were opposed to Him. They said 
He was Beelzebub, the Lord of filth. They said He was 
an imposter, and a deceiver. And yet Martha invitet 
Him to her home. I hope there will be some Martha 
here to-night who will invite Him to her home, to be 
her guest. He will make your home a thousand times 
better home than it has ever been before. 

Martha invited Him home with her. We read of his 
going often to Bethany. That one act will live forever. 
The noblest, the best, the grandest thing Martha ever 
did was to make room in her home for Jesus Christ. 
Little did she know when she invited the Son of God to 
become her guest who He was; and when we receive 
Jesus Christ into our hearts, little do we know who He 
is. He is growing all the while. It will take all eter- 
nity to find out who He is. 

There was a dark cloud then over that home in Beth- 
any. Martha didn't know it. Mary did not see that 
cloud. It was fast settling down upon that home* It 
was soon going to burst upon that little family. The 
Savior knew all about it. He saw that dark cloud 
coming across that threshold. We read that He gften 
lodged there. But a few months after He became their 
friend and guest, Lazarus sickened. The fever laid hold 
of him. It might have been typhoid fever. You can 
see those two sisters watching over that brother. The 
family physician is sent for to Jerusalem, and he comes 
out and does every thing he can to restore him to life and 
health; but he sunk lower and lower. Some of us know 
what it is when the doctor comes in and feels the pulse, 
begins to look very serious and takes you off into 
another room, away from the patient, and tells you it is 



192 NO ROOM FOR HIM. 

i critical case. Martha and Mary passed through that 
experience. There was no hope, and Lazarus must die. 
They thought if Jesus was only here He would rebuke 
this disease. He might keep death from taking away 
our only brother. They sent a messenger a good ways 
off to tell Jesus his friend was sick, and this was the 
message: " He whom thou Jovest is sick." They do not 
ask him to come. They knew Jesus loved him, and 
that he would come if it was for their good. The mess- 
enger at last returned. He found Christ and delivered 
his message. When he got back, he found that that 
cloud had burst upon that little home; that Lazarus was 
dead and buried. I see those two sisters as they gather 
around the messenger. They said, " Did you find Him?" 
" Yes, I found Him." " What did he say?" " He said 
the sickness was not unto death, and He would come and 
see him;" and for the first time I see faith beginning to 
stagger. Mary says, " Are you sure you understood 
Him? Did He say the sickness was not unto death?" 
" Yes." " Are you quite sure ?" " Yes." " Well," says 
Mary, " that is strange. If He is a prophet He should 
have known that he was dead. Elijah would have 
known it. If He was a prophet, why He must have 
known it. You hadn't been away from the house an 
hour before Lazarus died. He was dead when you met 
Him." " Well, that is what He told me. He said He 
would come here and see him." I see those two sisters 
as they kept watching for that friend to come and com- 
fort them. How long those nights must have been as 
they watched and watched. I can imagine they did not 
sleep through the night They listened to hear a foot- 
fall. The next day they watched and He did not come. 
The second night passed and He did not come. The 
third day came and He did not come. The fourth day 
came and a messenger came running in and says, " Mar* 

9 



NO ROOM FOR HIM, 193 

tha, Jesus and His Apostles are just outside of the walls 
of the city. He is coming on toward Bethany." Martha 
runs out and says, " if Thou hadst been here my brothei 
had not died. Thou wouldst have kept death away from 
our dwelling." Jesus answered, " but thy brother shall 
rise again." 

I would give more for such a friend than all the infi- 
dels in America. I would rather have such a friend than 
have the wealth of the world. When death has come 
and taken my wife and taken my children, to have a voice 
say to me, " I am the resurrection and the life. He that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." 
Little did Martha know whom she was entertaining 
when she invited Christ into her home. The world has 
been sneering at Martha ever since, but it was the grand- 
est, the sublimest and noblest act of her life. Oh, my 
friends, make room for the Son of God in your homes. 
Let the world go on mocking and scoffing. The hour 
will come when the cloud will burst on your homes, 
when death will come down in your dwelling and take 
away a loved mother, a loved child, a loved father. Then 
what is your infidelity and atheism? But the words of 
the Son of God, how they comfort then : " Thy brother 
shall rise again." "Yes, I knew that," says Martha. 
He had probably taught them of the resurrection. " I 
know he will rise again, for he was such a good brother. 
He will rise at the resurrection of the just." Says the 
Son of God, " I am the resurrection of the just. I carry 
the keys with me. I have the keys to death and the 
grave." And He says, " Where is Mary? Go call her." 
I hope there is some Mary here that will hear the voice 
of the Son of God call to-night They ran and told 
Mary Jesus was there. I suppose Mary and Martha 
talked.it all over, for Mary came out and said the same 
words: "If Thou hadst been here my brother had not 



194 NO ROOM FOR HTM, 

died.* * Thy brother shall rise again." « Yes, I know 
he will rise in the resurrection of the just." " I am the 
resurrection of the just. Where have you laid him ?" 
Look at that company as they went along towards the 
grave-yard. These two sisters are telling about the last 
words and last acts of Lazarus. Perhaps Lazarus left a 
/oving message for Jesus. You know what that is. 
When you go to see friends who are mourning, how 
they will dwell upon the last words and the last acts of 
the departed one. You see Martha and Mary weeping 
as they went along toward the grave, and the Son of 
God wept with them. He had a heart to weep with 
those who wept, and to mourn with those who mourned. 
He is touched with a feeling of our infirmities. He can 
comfort us in a time of sorrow. 

He said, "Where have you laid him?" And they 
said, " Come and see." And they led the way. He 
said to his disciples, "Take away the stone." And 
again those sisters' faith wavered, and they said : " Lord, 
by this time he stinketh, for he has been dead four days." 
They did not know who their friend was, and when 
they rolled away that stone, Christ cried with a loud 
voice to his old friend: "Lazarus, come forth?" and 
Lazarus then leaped out of that same i^pulcher and came 
forth. Some old divine said it was a good thing He 
singled out Lazarus, for there is such power in the voice 
of the Son of God that the dead shall hear his voice 
and if He had not called Lazarus by name all the dead 
in that grave-yard would have come forth. O ! what blind- 
ness and downright folly for man or woman to be 
ashamed of Jesus Christ! O! make a friend of Him 
who has the keys of death; w T ho has power to raise our 
dead friends! Your own time is coming. The hour is 
coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of 
God and come forth. It seemed to just pain the heart of the 



NO ROOM FOR HIM, 1Q5 

Son of God when he was down here, to find so few 
people that wanted Him. We read of his looking up 
toward heaven, and sighing as he looked up toward 
that world where all honored and loved Him, and it 
seemed as if He just sighed for home. As He looked 
around Him, He could see what death was doing. He 
could see what sin was doing. There was death 
behind Him, on the right hand and on the left; 
yet they were so few that wanted Him, so few that 
cared for Him. He seemed to look towards that world 
and sigh — just longed for the time that God's will 
should be done on earth as it is up there in heaven. 

I would like to ask this congregation, did you ever 
have this feeling come over you that no one wanted you ? 
I had it once. I remember, when I left my mother and 
went off to Boston. I want to say, if a man wants to feel 
that he is alone in the world, he don't want to go off in 
the wilderness w r here he can have himself for company, 
but let him go into some of these metropolises or large 
cities, and let him pass down the streets where he can 
meet thousands and have no one know him or recognize 
him. 

I remember when I went off in that city and tried to 
get work and failed. It seemed as if there was room 
for every one else in the world, but there was none foi 
me. For about two days I had that awful feeling that 
no one wanted me. I never have had it since, and I 
lever want it again. It is an aw r ful feeling. It seems to 
me that must have been the feeling of the Son of God 
when He was down here. They did not want Him. He 
had come down to save men and they did not want to 
be saved. He had come to lift men i>p, and they did not 
want to be lifted up. There was not room for Him in 
this world, and there is not room for Him yet. 

Oh! my friend, is there room for Him in your heart? 



196 NO ROOM FOR HIM. 

That is the question. There is room for pleasure. There 
is room for lust. There is room for passion. There is 
room for jealousy. There is room for the world. There 
is room for everything but the Son of God — no room for 
Him. When He made these hearts of yours and mine, 
He made room enough for Himself, but a usurper has 
come in and taken possession of His place. When He 
made this world He made room enough for you and me 
and for Him, but when He came there was not any 
room for Him. The only place they could make room 
for Him was on the cross, and put Him there. The 
world to-day is a no greater friend of Jesus Christ than 
it was when He was down here, but if His disciples will 
only make room for Him, how He will come and dwell 
with us, and bless us, and lift us up; and He says to us, 
" If you will make room for me down here, I will make 
room for you up there. If you will honor and confess 
me down here, I will honor you in the courts of heaven, 
and confess you up there in the presence of the Father 
and the angels." 

O! my friends, make room for Him to-night! Do not 
go out of this house until you have made room for the 
Son of God. 

I saw some time ago an account of a lady that went 
in to see her neighbor whom she found weeping as if her 
heart would break. She said to her, "What is the 
trouble?" "Well," she said, "there is my child. It is 
fourteen years old to-day. For fourteen years I have 
watched over and provided for that child. I have not 
allowed my servants to take care of it. During the past 
fourteen years there has not been a night but that I have 
been up some part of the night with that child. I have 
left society and spent my time at home with that child." 
The child had not a mind. "But," she says, "if that 
child would just recognize me once it would pay me for 



NO ROOM FOR HIM, 197 

all I have done; but that child don't know me from a 
stranger." Her heart was just breaking, and as I read 
I thought : How many of us treat God in the same way ? 

My friends, God has blessed you with health, and a 
home in the Christian land. He has blessed you with a 
good wife; He has blessed you with children; He has 
blessed some of you with property, and you never have 
looked up once and recognized His loving hand, and 
said, " Thank you, Lord Jesus." 

O! this base ingratitude! May God forgive us, and 
may we to-night make room in our hearts for the Son of 
God! Just now when He is knocking at the door of 
your heart, just pull back the bolt and say "Welcome! 
Thrice welcome!" and see how quick he will come. 
What is he saying? Listen! Hark! Does the heart 
throb? That is Christ knocking! "Behold, I stand at 
the door and knock. If any man will open the door, I 
will come in to him and sup with him, and He with me." 

O! sinner, just unlock the door of your heart to-night 
Just throw that door wide open and say " Welcome ! 
thrice welcome, Son of God, into this heart of mine!" 
and see how quick he will come and dwell with you. 
He will never leave you ; He will never forsake you. In 
the time of trouble he will be your counselor. In the 
time of sorrow He will be your deliverer. If you want 
u a friend that sticketh closer than a brother " make room 
in your heart for the Son of God. If you want a friend 
that will help you in the time of temptation and trial, 
make room in your heart for the Son of GocL 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 

For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves 
being judges. Deut. xxxii, 31. 

This was Moses' farewell address. He was about to 
leave the children of Israel in the wilderness. He had 
led them up to the borders of the Promised Land. For 
forty long years he had been leading them in that wil- 
derness, and now, as they were about to go over, Moses 
takes his farewell; and among the good things he said, 
for he said a great many very wise and very good things 
on that memorable occasion, this is one : " For their rock 
is not even as our rock, our enemies themselves being 
judges." There was not a man on the face of the earth 
at that time that knew as much about the world, and as 
much about God, as Moses. Therefore he was a good 
judge. He had tasted of the pleasures of the world. In 
the forty years that he was in Egypt he probably sam- 
pled every thing of that day. He tasted of the world, or 
its pleasures. He knew all about it. He was brought 
up in the palace of a king, a prince. Egypt then ruled 
the world, as it were. He had been forty years in Horeb, 
where he had heard the voice of God; where he had 
been taught by God; and for forty years he had been 
serving God. You might say he was God's right 
hand man, leading those bondmen up out of the land of 
Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, into the land of 
liberty; and this is his dying address— you might say, his 
farewell address. This is the dying testimony of one that 
could speak with authority and one that could speak in- 

198 



THSIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 199 

telligently. He knew what he was saying, " Their rock 
is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being 
judges." 

Now, to-night I want to take up the atheist, the deist, 
the pantheist, and the infidel; and I want to show, if I 
can, and I think it is not a very difficult thing to show ? 
that their way is not as our way. 

I know there is a good deal of dispute now about the 
definition of these words. So, to avoid any trouble, in- 
stead of going to the Bible I went to Webster's diction- 
ary, and I have got the meaning. I suppose you will give 
in, most of you, that Webster is wiser than yourselves. 
There are a few men that are a little wiser than Web- 
ster, for infidelity is generally very conceited. One of 
the worst things about infidelity is the conceit. You sel- 
dom meet an infidel that is not wiser in his own estima- 
tion than the God who created him, and he wants to 
teach God instead of letting God teach him. But those 
that are willing to bow to Webster we will refer to his 
definition of these words. 

An atheist is " one who disbelieves or denies the exist- 
ence of God." I am thankful to say that they are very 
scarce. You meet them now and then. I am sorry to 
say that you will occasionally meet a young man that 
will tell you that he is an atheist. He believes there is 
no God; he believes that there is no hereafter; that when 
he dies, that is the end — that ends all. 

I don't know of any thing that is darker ; I don't know 
of anything that is colder, bleaker, than that doctrine; 
for, of course, an atheist has feelings like the rest of us. 
If he is a father, he has love for his children. Here is a 
boy that has gone astray; he has been taken captive by 
Satan; he has become a victim to strong drink, we will 
say, and strong drink has got the mastery ; and you can 
see that boy as he is going down to a drunkard's grave. 



200 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK, 

He says to that father that believes there is no God, and 
no hereafter, " Father, is there no deliverance for me f 
Is there no way that I can become a sober man? Is there 
no way that I can become a free man ?" " Yes," says 
the atheist, " assert your manhood. Resolve that you 
will never drink any more." " Ah, but, father, I have 
done that a thousand times, and I can't keep those resolu- 
tions. The tempter is too strong for me. My appetite 
is stronger than my will power, father? Is there no God 
that created me that can help me?" " No, my son, no; 
nothing outside of yourself." " And if I die in this con- 
dition, what is going to become of me?" " Oh, that will 
be the last of you." " And shall we never meet again in 
the universe of God?" "No, never." Pretty dark, isn't 
it ? And that atheist sees that boy go down to a drunk- 
ard's grave. There is no arm to deliver, no eye to pity. 
There is no help. 

Look again. He has got a beautiful little child. It 
had lived long enough to twine itself around that father's 
heart, and the cold, icy hand of death is feeling for the 
chords of life, and that little flower is going to be plucked. 
You can see that little child wasting away upon a bed of 
pain and sickness. The child calls the father to its bed- 
side and says, " Father, is there no hereafter?" "No, 
my child." "Shall we never meet again?" " No, my 
child." "When I die, is that the last of me?" "Yes, 
my child." Pretty dark, isn't it? That atheist goes and 
lays away that child without one ray of hope — without 
one star to relieve the midnight darkness and gloom. 

A prominent infidel of this country stood at the 
grave of a member of his family. He is an orator — an 
eloquent man; and he said he committed him back to the 
winds and the waves and the elements; it was the last 
they would ever see of him. Pretty dark, isn't it? 

And yet there are some men that want to go over to 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 201 

atheism. They want to believe that there is no God, I can- 
not for the life of me see where you get any comfort in 
it I turn away from it, and I say from the very depths 
of my heart, u Their rock is not as our rock." I thank 
God I have got a better foundation than that; I thank 
God I have got a better hope than that. If my boy is 
led astray I can preach to him Jesus Christ, and I can 
tell him that God Almighty has got power to deliver 
him from sin, and from its mighty power; and if God 
should take my child from me, I can say to that dear 
child, " I will meet you on the glorious morning of the 
resurrection. It won't be long. We may be separated 
for a little while, but the night will soon pass, and the 
great morning of the world will dawn upon us." Yes, 
u their rock is not even as our rock, our enemies them- 
selves being judges." 

But I must pass on. That is the definition of an athe- 
ist — one that believes there is no God. I want to say if 
there were many atheists in this country we would have 
a great many more suicides than we have. These men 
that have got tired of life, if they thought that death 
ended all, they would quickly put themselves out of the 
way, and you could not blame them for it. But I think 
there is something down in man's heart that tells him 
there is a hereafter; that there is not only a God, but 
there is a judgment to come. 

Now a deist. A deist is one that believes in one God 
only. He denies Christ and revelation. Deism is not 
much better, I think, than atheism, for I never yet knew 
a deist that knew any thing about his God. He believes 
there is a God, and that is all you can get out of him. 

Deists live on their doubts. They live on what they 
do not believe — on negatives. You meet a deist and he 
would tell you, " I don't believe this," and I don't believe 
that, and that, and he is all the time telling you what he 



202 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK, 

don't believe. You seldom, if ever, find a deist who will 
tell you what he does believe, because he knows nothing 
about his God. If a man denies revelation, how is he to 
know anything about God ? How are we to know our 
God if we are only deists, and just close that book, and 
not believe in the book ? Is he a God of mercy ? We 
know nothing about it. Is he a God of truth, and equity 5 
and justice? We know nothing about it. How are we 
to know any thing about God, if we cast away the Bible, 
and say we don't believe in revelation ; that we don't be- 
lieve that Jesus Christ came down here to declare His 
Father, and believe that that book is not written by in- 
spiration, and doubt that blessed word of God ? I would 
like to have a deist come forward and declare to us his 
God — and tell us who and what he is. 

The Pantheist. Let us see what Webster's definition 
of a pantheist is. He believes that the universe is God. 
He believes that God is in the w^ind, God is in the water, 
God is in the trees, and all the God we know anything 
about is the god we see about us. A pantheist will say, 
" Why, yes I believe in God. You are God and I am 
God. We are all Gods." That is their idea — that God 
is in everything. I strike that board and I strike the pan- 
theist's god, because that is as much a god as the god he 
knows. I stamp upon the floor, and I stamp the panthe- 
ist's god. That is all he knows. God is in every thing; 
God is everywhere; God is nowhere; that is the sum- 
ming up of pantheism. Now, you will find a great many 
of these pantheists that will tell you they believe more in 
God than we do, because they believe God is in every 
thing all around. But when you ask a deist or a panthe- 
ist if his God answers prayer, he will tell you no. " Does 
he hear the cry of distress?" " No." " Does he hear the 
cry of the humble?" He will tell you that the Lord of 
the universe and the God of the universe has just made 



THEIR ROCK TS NOT OUR ROCK. 203 

this world, and has wound it up as a clock, and it is going 
to run; that His laws are fixed; that you need not pray; 
you can't change God's mind; that he never answers 
prayer. If your child has gone astray you can't pray to 
Him, because He has no mercy. There is no mercy but 
si the wind, and you may as well go out and pray to the 
vhutider, to a storm, or a shower, to the moon, the sun, 
the stars, because God is every thing and everywhere, 
&nd yet is nowhere. They don't believe in the person- 
ality of God, You may just take pantheism, deism and 
atheism, prt them all together, and there is not much dif- 
ference. I wauld as soon be the one as the other, be- 
cause they are m midnight darkness and gloom, They 
know nothing abo^t the God of love and the God of the 
Bible. 

But now we come, p^ihaps, to the most difficult class, 
because I think that there are a great many infidels, and 
don't like that name. I suppose that saying they were 
infidels had offended quite a number of Cleveland people. 
They stand up and deny it. But when you come to put 
the question right to them according to Webster's defini- 
tion of infidelity, they are nothing but infidels. Now, an 
infidel is one that does not believe in the inspiration of 
the Scriptures. 

I am sorry to say that we have got to-day a good 
many infidels. The first step towards atheism is infidel- 
ity. The first step towards pantheism is infidelity. The 
first step towards deism is infidelity. The moment you 
can break down that word in one place and make out 
that it is not true, then, of course, the whole word goes. 
Now, you ask an infidel if he really believes in the Bible, 
and he says, "Well, I believe part of it I believe all that 
corresponds with my reason, but I don't believe anything 
supernatural. I don't believe any thing I can't reason 
out." 



204 THSIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 

Now, if a man takes that ground he might as wefl 
throw away the whole Bible and go over to atheism at 
one leap. He need not be weeks and months going, 
because that is where it is going to bring him. If you 
take out of that book ail that is supernatural, you might 
as well take out the whole of it From beginning to 
end it is a supernatural book. Look into Genesis. You 
ask an infidel if he believes in the flood. No sir; not he. 
Then throw out Genesis; because, if the man who wrote 
Genesis put in one lie, why is not the whole of it a lie ? 
If he did he must have known it was a fraud when he 
wrote it, so that condemns Genesis. You ask a man if 
he believes the story of the Red Sea — about bringing the 
children of Israel through the Red Sea. Not he. That 
is contrary to reason, contrary to man's intellect. Out 
goes Exodus. That throws out the decalogue — throws 
out the commandments. It all goes together. If the man 
who wrote Exodus told a lie in the beginning of Exodus 
and that the children never yvent through the Red Sea> 
then away goes the whole book. 

Then take up Leviticus. It is said in Leviticras if we 
will do so and so He will come down and walk with us, 
would be among his people, and the shout of the king is 
heard in the camp. "Do you believe that?" "No, sir," 
the infidel says, " I don't believe anything of that kind." 
Out goes Leviticus. Throw it all out. 

Do you believe God told Moses to make a brazen ser- 
pent, and that all the bitten Israelites that looked upon it 
shall live ? The skeptic turns up his nose and says with a 
good deal of contempt, "No ; you don't think I am fool 
enough to believe that?" Outgoes the whole book of 
Numbers; throw it out, because if the man that wrote 
that book, put that lie in, the whole of it is a lie. You 
just prove that I tell a wilful lie here to-night and my 
whole sermon is gone. You go into court and testify to 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 205 

a lie and let it be proven that you have told a wilful lie 
(and untrue in one thing untrue in all), out goes you! 
testimony. The jury won't take it. Now, if the mas 
that wrote the book of Numbers put down that lie — if he 
never did make a brazen serpent for the children of 
Israel, then the whole book of Numbers is gone. 
Throw it out. Then we come to Deuteronomy. Do 
you believe Moses went up into the mountain and his 
natural force was not abated, his eye had not grown dim, 
and he died there and God buried him; God kissed 
away his soul, as some one has said? The infidel says, "I 
don't believe one word of it; that is supernatural ; that h 
against reason." Then throw r out the whole of Deuter- 
onomy. There goes the first five books of Moses. 

Then go into Joshua. " Do you believe Joshua tooi. 
Jericho by going around Jericho blowing rams' horns? 
Don't believe a word of it." Tear it to pieces. Throw 
it away. Out it goes. If the writer of that book would 
tell a lie like that at the beginning of the book he lied 
all through it — why not? That is what an infidel is — one 
who does not believe in supernatural things. 

"Do you believe that Sampson took the jaw-bone of 
an ass and slew a thousand men ?" " No, I don't believe 
it." Out goes the book. Because from the beginning 
of Judges to the end it is all supernatural. 

"Do you believe God called Samuel when he was a 
little boy— that God called him?" "Why, no," says the 
infidel, "I don't believe any thing that is contrary to my 
reason. I don't believe any thing supernatural." Out 
goes the two books of Samuel. 

" Do you believe that David went out and met Goliath 
and slew him?" "No, I don't believe it." Outgoes 
the two books of Kings. And so I can go on through 
the whole Bible. Take out the supernatural in it and 
you have to throw away the whole Bible, You can't 



206 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 

touch Jesus Christ from His birth until He went up into 
glory, but what He was supernatural. The work 
that is going on now is supernatural. Things are 
happening every day that are supernatural. Every man 
that is born of the Holy Ghost, born of God — it is super- 
natural. Yet an infidel will stand right up and tell you 
to-day that he will not believe a thing in that book that 
don't correspond to his reason; therefore the infidels are 
just tearing the Bible all to pieces. That is where we 
are drifting to. " Their rock is not as our rock, our 
enemies themselves being judges." 

Now, I would like to ask the infidels what earthly 
motive could the early Christians have had in writing 
that book? What motive could Jesus Christ have had in 
coming down here and living such a life as he led ? Some 
of you accuse us of working for gain. You say that 
we are after your money and that we don't care any- 
thing about your soul. You cannot accuse our Master of 
that, can you? He didn't carry off much money, did He? 
His cradle was a borrowed one. The only time that He 
rede into Jerusalem that we have recorded He rode in 
on a colt, the foal of an ass. It would be a strange sight 
to see him coming into Cleveland in that way. You 
would not own Him. And He did not own this beast. 
It was a borrowed beast. It was a borrowed guest 
chamber in which he instituted his supper. It was a 
borrowed grave in which they laid him. He that was 
rich became poor for our sakes. What motive could he 
have had in coming down here if he had not been true 
and real — if he had been an imposter, a hypocrite, 
coming down here and teaching us a falsehood? If Jesus 
Christ was not God manifest in the flesh, he was the 
greatest impostor that ever came into this world, and 
every Christian throughout Christendom to-day, is guilty 

of idolatry, of breaking the first commandment, tt Thou 
10 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 207 

ghalt have no other god before Me." He comes and 
says unto the world, " Come unto Me and I will give 
you rest." Elijah never said that; Moses never said that; 
no man that ever trod this earth dared to have said it; 
and if Jesus Christ had not been divine as well as 
human, it would have been blasphemy, and the Jews 
ought to have put him to death. They had a right by 
the Jewish law to put him to death. He an impostor! 
He a deceiver! He a fraud! Away with such doctrine! 
And yet people will stand right up here in this com- 
munity and tell you it is all a fiction about his conception 
by the Holy Ghost, and at the same time they will stand 
right up and say they are Christians. They don't like 
that word infidel. They say they are no infidels. But, 
ah, my friends, if we break down the testimony of Jesus 
Christ, and make him out a fraud and deceiver, it all 
goes. 

Now, when people tell me that that book is not to be 
relied upon, I tell them that I will throw it away when 
they will bring me a better one. I am ready to throw it 
away to-night if you will bring me a better one. But 
where is there any book to be compared with it? Bring 
it on will you! When you bring on a better man than 
Jesus Christ I will follow him. But don't ask me to 
follow these skeptics and infidels down here who are 
trying to tear down the w r orks of Jesus Christ when they 
have no better to leave in their place. 

Now Jesus Christ was without spot or blemish. You 
can find no fault with Him or in Him. We don't want to 
follow any one else until we can find a better man. If 
these men that are scoffing and sneering at Christ will 
bring on a better man we will follow him. If they will 
bring on a better book we will take it. But until they 
do, let us cling to the Bible, and defend it and stand by 
it, and let us stand by Jesus Christ and let us defend 
Him. 



208 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 

Infidelity takes everything away from us and gives us 
nothing in return. When Lord Chesterfield went to 
Paris he was invited out to dine with Voltaire, the lead- 
ing infidel of that day. Lord Chesterfield was a 
Christian man. A lady at the table when they were 
at dinner, said: "Lord Chesterfield, I am told thai you 
have in your English Parliament five or six hundred of 
the leading men of thought in the nation." Well, he 
said he believed that was so. She said, " then why is it 
that those wise men tolerate Christianity?" Well, he 
said he supposed because they could not get anything 
better to take its place. 

Do you ever stop to think what you would put in the 
place of Christianity? It is easy enough to tear down, or 
at least try to tear down. There are some people that 
spend all their lives in trying to tear down things that are 
good, but they give us nothing ia the place of them. 
Now, the trouble with infidelity is it gives us nothing in 
the place of what we have got. The Bible holds out a 
hope to man. It holds out something that is beyond this 
life, and gives him hope. Infidelity gives him no hope. 
It tears dow^n all the hope he has got. He has got nothing 
to build on. If this book fails, what have we got? Now, 
just think a moment. Take the Bible away from us, 
and what have we got? I would like to say to the people 
here to-night, if you step into a church — for I am sorry 
to say some of these infidels have got into the pulpit — 
if you step into a church and hear a man talking about 
Jesus Christ not being Divine, if you take my advice, 
you will get out of that church as quick as you can get 
out But you say, " My father and mother belong to 
that church." Suppose they do. You get out, as Lot 
got out of Sodom. Make haste. You think a man 
who would sell you poison and kill your children is a 
horrid man; but I tell you a man who would plant infi- 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 209 

db^iy a the mind of my child is worse than a man who 
gives it poison — to have their young minds poisoned and 
infidelity taught them under the garb of Christ and 
Christianity; and yet there are some men who profess to 
be friends of that book who are all the time trying to 
tear it to pieces, and make out that it is not written by 
inspiration— that it is not from God, and that it cannot 
speak with authority. 

Now, to show that their rock is not as our rock, out 
enemies themselves being judges, I want to tell you 3 
thing that happened some time ago. I was in the room 
with a man, and he said he wanted to have a talk with 
me, " but," he says, M I wish you would let that man go 
out" "O ! " I said, " he is here to take care of the things." 
We had some of our things in the cloak-room back of 
the platform, and he was there so that no thief should 
come in and steal what we had. And this man said, " I 
would like to have him go out." " Well," I said, " he 
belongs here. I will ask him to go out if you insist 
upon it, but," says I, " I will talk at this end of the room." 
" Well," he said, " I would like to have him go out." I 
spoke to the man and asked him to leave the room, and 
he hadn't more than got out before he opened his lips, 
and such a tirade against Christianity! I said to him, 
** My friend, why did you want that man to go out ? " 
M Weil," he said, " I thought it might hurt him." I said, 
u If it is good for you why is it not good for him ? " 
Well, he said he did not like to have his children know 
hk views. He said his wife was a Christian and he wanted 
his children brought up differently. " Their rock is not 
as our rock, our enemies themselves being judges." 1 
want my children to believe as I believe. I want them 
feo be taught to love and fear and honor God. If these 
kfidels think infidelity is good for them, why is it they 
4oirt want it taught to their children, why is it, thai 



210 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK* 

so ^any infidels want their children to be taught the 
Lorti s prayer ? 

Vtety often when I have been in an infidel's house he 
has v anted his wife and children to leave the room, and 
then he has gone on and talked his infidelity. " Their 
rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being 
judges." That proves it 

A .man ordered his servant out of his dining room, and 
after dis servant went out he began to talk his atheism to 
a Ch/istian man that was there. The Christian man said 
to him, " Why did you order out your servant? " "Well," 
said he, "I'm afraid if he held my views he might cut 
my tl roat some time, for my money." 

Yoa laugh at it, but if there is no God, why not? li 
there Is no hereafter, why not? If this country is as bad 
as it U with all the religion we have got, w r hat would it 
be without it? Let this country go over to infidelity; 
what would become of the nation? It was not a great 
many years ago that, in a convention at Lyons, in France^ 
they voted that the Bible was a fiction, that it was not 
true, and that there was no God; that there was no here- 
after* that death was an eternal sleep; and it was not 
very long before blood flowed very freely in France. 
And you let atheism, and pantheism, and deism, and 
infidelity go stalking through this land, and life and 
property won't be safe. You know it very well. 

Lord Lyttleton and Gilbert West were going to expose 
the fraud of Christianity. One was going to take up the 
resui section and expose that. The other was going t@ 
take up Saul's conversion and expose that. And they 
went about it — went to studying up those two facts. 
The /esult was they were both converted. The testi- 
motiy was perfectly overwhelming. If a man will look 
at ine testimony, I can't see for the life of me how he 
can 4otibt these are facts. What did Paul have to gai& 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 211 

by his conversion? Would you call sueh a man as Paul 
a fraud? What did he give up for the gospel's sake? 
Reputation, position, standing — every thing he had. 
What did he get in return ? Hunger, persecution, prison, 
stocks, stripes and death. He died the death of a com- 
mon criminal. He died at Rome as a poor and miserable 
outcast in the sight of the world. What earthly motive 
could he have had, if these things are not truer Why, 
we have all the proof that any man could ask for, that 
Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He was seen ten differ- 
ent times, and was here among us forty days, and then 
He was seen by the holiest and best men on earth at 
that time ascend and go up into heaven. They went 
and looked into the sepulcher and found it was empty. 
There was no doubt about his body coming out of the 
grave. Some men say they believe in Christianity, but 
they don't believe Christ's body came up. Do you think 
they could have stolen that body and palmed that fraud 
off on the world for these eighteen hundred years? Do 
you think those keen Jews of Jerusalem would never 
have found out the fraud and deception? Away with 
such a delusion. Christ rose; He burst asunder the bands 
of death. He has come out of the sepulcher and passed 
into the heavens and taken His seat at the right hand of 
God. We don't worship a dead Savior. Our Christ 
lives. He is on the throne to-night. Let us look up : 
for the time of our redemption is nigh. Let us gird up 
our loins afresh. Let us buckle on the whole armor and 
fight for Christ. Let us hold to the faith. Let us not 
be influenced by the infidelity around us, but let it drive 
us to the Bible. Let us cling to this good old book. It 
will be darker than midnight ere long if we let our con- 
fidence go in that book. I saw an account some time ago 
of an infidel who was dying. So many infidels recant 
when they die. Did you ever hear of a Chrktiaa recant- 



212 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK, 

ing? I never did. Did you ever hear of a Christian 
dying that was sorry that he had served the Lord Jesus 
Christ? I never did. I have heard of a good many 
that regretted that they had not served Him a good 
deal better than they had ; that they had not lived more 
like Him. The infidel friends of this infidel gathered 
around him. They were afraid he was going to recant, 
and if he did the Christians would make capital out of 
it. They gathered around him and said, " Hold on, 
hold on to your principles ; don't give it up now." The 
poor dying man said, "What have I got to hold on to?" 
You answer the question, will you? What has an infi- 
del got to hold on to? 

Some time ago I was drawing a contrast between the 
end of that talented man, Lord Byron, and Paul. Byron 
died at the early age of thirty-six. The time allotted to 
man is three score years and ten. 

A fast life — a life of dissipation carried him off early. 
These are about the last lines he penned : 

** My days are in the yellow lea£ 

The flower and the fruit of life are gone | 
The worm, the canker and the grave 
Are mine alone." 

That is all he had at the close of life. But look at 
Paul's farewell. He writes to Timothy : " I have fought 
the good fight. I have kept the faith ; henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." There is a 
good deal of difference between the death of a skeptic 
and an infidel, and the death of the righteous. u Theii 
rock is not as our rock, they themselves being judges." 
How often you have heard men say, " I wish I could be- 
lieve as you do." What do they want to believe as we 
do for, if they are satisfied with their rock? "I wish I 
had your hope." What do you want our hope for if you 
are satisfied with your rock ? " Oh, I wish I had the a§- 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 213 

surance you have." What do you want our assurance 
for if you are satisfied with your rock? The fact is, 
" Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies being 
judges." We will bring them in as witnesses and let 
them testify. Let us, my friends, hold on to the Word 
of God. When these skeptics and infidels talk against 
the book, let us love it all the more. Let it drive us to 
the Word. Let us say we will give up life rather than 
that book. We will hold on to that, let it cost us what 
it will. The world may call us fanatics and fools, and all 
that, but they cannot give us any worse name than they 
gave the Master. They called Him Beelzebub, the 
Prince of Devils, and we can afford to be called fools for 
Christ's sake for a little while, and by and by we will be 
called home, and, if we will hold right on, the end will 
be glorious. 

A soldier, during the war, got up in one of our meet- 
ings in Chicago. He had just come from the battle of 
Perryville. He said his brother came home one day and 
said he had enlisted. He went down to the recruiting 
officer and put his name next to his brother's ; there was 
no name between them; he said they had never been 
separated one day in their lives, and he said he did not 
mean to have his brother go into the army without him. He 
said they went into the army, and they went into a good 
many battles together. The terrible battle of Perryville 
came on. About 10 o'clock in the morning his brother 
was mortally wounded. A minnie ball passed through 
his lungs. He fell by his side, put his knapsack under 
the head of his dying brother, pillowed his head and 
made him as comfortable as he could, bent over and 
kissed him, and started away. The dying man says, 
u Charlie, come back here. Let me kiss you upon your 
lips." He came back, and his brother kissed him on the 
Hps and said, " There, take that home to my-dear mother, 



214 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ^OCK. 

and tell her that I died praying for her." And he said 
as he turned away, and his brother was wallowing in his 
blood, and the battle was raging all around him, he heard 
him say, "This is glorious*" He* turned around and 
went back, and said, " My brother, what is glorious ?" 
" O," he said, " it is glorious to die looking up. I see 
Christ in heaven." 

It is glorious to die looking up. But if we die looking 
up, we have got to live looking up. We have got to 
live trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. O, in this dark 
day of infidelity, when it is coming up all around, let us 
hold on to the glorious old Bible, and to the blessed 
teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ 



TEKEL. 

Tekel.— Daniel v 3|, 

I want to have you get the text to-night It is so 
short I am quite sure you that have short memories can 
carry it away with you, if you will just listen to it; and 
if some one asks you after the meeting is over, I hope 
you will be able to give my text and the meaning of it, 

In this short chapter of thirty-one verses we get all 
we know about Belshazzar. His history was very brief. 
We are told that he had a feast of his lords; he had a 
thousand of his noblemen, his lords, his mighty men, 
gathered there at Babylon, How long that feast lasted 
we are not told. Sometimes those Eastern feasts used 
to last for six months. We are told that this young king 
was praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, 
of wood and of stone; and all at once silence reigns in 
that banqueting hall. The king had sent out into the 
heathen temple, and had had the golden vessels that had 
been taken by his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, that 
had been brought down from Jerusalem, brought into 
that impious feast, and while they were rioting and 
drinking and carousing, judgment came suddenly and 
unexpectedly. And I think if you will read the Word 
of God carefully, you will find that judgment always 
comes suddenly and unexpectedly. While that feast is 
going on and .all is merry, over on the wall, over the 
golden candlesticks, is seen a hand, and there is a finger 
writing the doom of that king. He sends for the wise 
men of Babylon to come in and read that writing. He 
ogers the man that can read the writing shall be clothed 

215 



216 TEKEL. 

in fine linen and in purple; he shall have a golden chain 
around his neck, and shall be made the third ruler in the 
realm. Those wise men tried to read it, but they were 
not acquainted with God's handwriting. That is the 
reason these skeptics and infidels don't understand the 
Bible — they don't know God's handwriting. With all 
the wisdom of the Chaldeans they could not make out 
that handwriting. They failed — utterly failed. The 
king and all his lords were astounded. They never had 
seen it on that fashion before. It was a strange hand- 
writing. The Queen comes in, and she tells the Mon- 
arch that there is a man in his kingdom — he has not 
been heard of for fifteen years; w T here he has been we 
are not told; but she tells Belshazzar that when Neb- 
uchadnezzar reigned and the wise men failed to tell him 
his dream and the interpretation, there was a man by the 
name of Daniel that could tell the king his dream and 
the interpretation, and if Belshazzar should send for this 
prophet he might be able to read that handwriting on the 
wall. Daniel is sent for and the king says to him, " If 
you read that hand-writing and tell me what it is, I 
will give you great gifts, and I will make you the third 
ruler in the realm." When that prophet looks up there 
you can imagine how silence reigns through that audi- 
ence. Every eye is upon him. The king looks at him, 
and as he makes this offer to the prophet, the prophet 
says, " Let your gifts be to others, but I will read to you 
the hand-writing." He knew his God'fe writing. It was 
very familiar to him, and without any difficulty he can 
read, " Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin/' " What does it 
mean?" cries the king. "Mene, me***?: Thy kingdom 
is numbered and finished. Tekel : Thou art weighed in 
the balances, and art found wanting Upharsin : Thy 
kingdom is divided, and given to tl-e Medes and Per- 
Hans," And that night Belshazzar'i blood flowed with 



TEKE1* 217 

the wine in his banquet hall. That very night they 
could hear Cyrus coming with his army up through the 
streets of Babylon. He turned the Euphrates out of its 
channel and brought his army under the walls of the 
city, and that very night Belshazzar's army was defeated, 
the men around the royal palace were driven back, Bel- 
shazzar was slain, and Darius took the throne. 

But, it is not my obiect to-night to talk about that king 
that reigned twenty-five hundred years ago. I don't 
want to take you back that far. I want to get down to 
Cleveland if I can. I want to get into this audience to- 
night, and I want to ask every man and woman in this 
assembly, if you should be summoned into eternity at 
this hour, or at the midnight hour, what should be said? 
" Thou art weighed in the balances and art found war.t- 
ing." 

The other night I preached from the text, " There is 
no difference," and I tried to measure men by the law. 
To-night I propose to weigh them by the law. We find 
here this illustration of the balances used by God him- 
self. Tekel means, " Thou art weighed in the balances 
and art found wanting." Let us imagine there were 
scales let down into this building — not of our making — 
God is going to weigh us; we are not going to weigh 
ourselves. The great trouble with men is they are try- 
ing to weigh themselves all the while, and they are 
making balances of their own. When we are weighed 
we are to be weighed in God's balances — -not man's, 
The God who created us is going to weigh us. Let us 
imagine that the scales are fastened by a golden chain to 
the throne of God, who sits yonder in the heavens — a 
"Jod of equity,^ a God of justice; and those balances come 
down to-night into this building, and here they are right 
before us, and every man, woman and child in this as- 
sembly has to be weighed. Now, the question is, are 



218 TEKSL.. 

you ready to be weighed? A man begins to look around 
to his neighbors and other people, and says, " Yes, I am 
ready to be weighed. I am as good as the average." 
But that is not the way to look at it. What we want is 
to look at the law. We are to be weighed by the law 
of God. The God that created us has given us a law, 
and among all the skeptics and infidels that I have met, 
I have not found any that complained of that law. The 
trouble is not with the law. The trouble is with our- 
selves. 

Now, I have to-night some weights. You know 
when you go into a store to buy goods they take weights 
and weigh out your goods. Now, I have ten 
weights. I am going to put them in the balances, and I 
want this audience to come up and get in. As I put 
the weights in on one side, you come up and get in on 
trie other side and see if you are ready to be weighed by 
the law of God. 

We will now put in the first weight, " Thou shalt have 
no other Gods before me." People who live in America 
think there is no such thing as idolatry. They think 
they have to go off into China, Japan or some heathen 
country to find idols. Don't flatter yourselves. We have 
idols in America. You have not got to go far from Cleve- 
land to find them. You will find a thousand idolaters, I 
was going to say, where you find one true Christian that 
worships the God of the Bible. Anything that a man 
thinks more of than he does of God is his idol. A man 
may make an idol of his wealth. A man may make an 
idol of his wife or his children. A man may make an 
idol of himself; a good many do that. They think more 
of themselves than of any thing else in the wide world. 
They worship themselves. They revere themselves. 
They honor themselves. Self is at the bottom and top 
;>f every thing they do. Then there are a good many 



TKKEJL. 210 

that worship the god of pleasure. Look at your young 
men to-day and your young ladies that bow down to the 
god of pleasure. "Give me a night in the ball-room 
and you may have heaven with all its glories. What 
do I care? Give me a night that will satisfy me in this 
world and I care nothing about the world to come." 
There are a good many gods. It would take all night 
to enumerate the gods you have got here in Cleveland. 
There are a good many that bow down to that god of 
gold, that golden calf we read of in Aaron's day. 
" Give me money " is the cry of the world. " You may- 
have the Bible with all its offers of mercy and heaven. 
You may have every thing else if you will only give me 
money and give me a nice house up here on your avenue 
and a good turn out and all the money I want. That is 
all I ask for. I will just be willing to trample the 
Bible and all its commandments and all its offers of 
mercy under my feet. That is my god." ** Thou shalt 
have no other Gods before me." 

Now what is your god to-night? What do you think 
most of to-night? Oh, that the Spirit of God may wake 
us up to-night If we are trusting any idol, if we have some 
idol in our heart, may God tear it from us, because God 
says, " Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The 
sin of idolatry is one of the worst of sins. In that Book 
there is more said against idolatry, perhaps than any 
other sin. God will have the first place or none. Yet 
there are a great many men trying to give God the 
second place. They say, " Business has got to be 
attended to, I have got to attend to business, and if I 
have a little time after attending to business, I will attend 
to my soul's wants." Instead of giving the soul the first 
place they give the body and this life the first place. 
We take a good deal better care of our bodies than we 
do of our souls* You know that very well. Mogl 



220 TKKE3L. 

people think a great deal more of this life than of the 
life to come. They think a great deal more of the gods 
around them than of the God of the Bible and the God 
of heaven. 

The next weight is very much like it We will put 
that weight right in the balances, " Thou shalt not bow 
down thyself to any graven image or any likeness of 
any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth 
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." 
" Thou shalt not bow down to any image." I am not 
to even worship any cross or crucifix. I am not to bow 
down to anything but the God of heaven. I am not to 
worship any pictures, even if they are pictures of Jesus 
Christ- — not any graven image. I think it is a great 
mistake that artists try to make pictures of the God of 
heaven and earth. It is a fearful thing. We are not 
to make any graven image of any thing and then bow 
down to it 

But I must pass on rapidly. " Thou shalt not take 
the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Blasphemers 
come on now and be weighed. We will put that in the 
balances. You step in and see how quick you will go 
up — how quick the balance will kick the beam. If 
every blasphemer in this house was to be weighed 
to-night, what would become of his soul? 

u Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
m vain." It is astonishing to hear men blaspheme and 
curse God, and when you talk to them they say, " I don't 
mean anything by it" Well, God means a good deal 
when He says He u will not hold him guiltless that 
taketh His name in vain." 

Do you know that profanity is just man's showing 
his enmity to God? If God hadn't told man not tc 
swear, I don't think he would have thought of it, but 
just because God has said, u Thou shalt not swear," he 



T2KZU 221 

wants to show his contempt of God by trampling Hit 
commandment under foot and spurning the grace of God 
They say they can't help it Yet these very men, when 
their mother is around, seldom if ever swear. That 
shows they have more respect for their mother than they 
have for the God of heaven. If the wife happens to 
be around, or the children very often, they will not sweat. 
ifet they will curse God, and swear to God's face — 
challenge God, as it were, to do his worst, and bias* 
pheme. Yet when you talk to them about it they say, 
" Oh, well, I can't help it." It is false. Man may not 
af his own strength be able to turn from that sin, but 
Jod will give him grace. If a man has a new r heart, 
he will have no desire to swear. 

If a man is born of God he will not want to take 
God's name in vain. Let the blasphemers in this house 
io-night remember that God is not going to "hold him 
guiltless that taketh His name in vain." If every blas- 
phemer in this assembly should be cut down to-night 
with cursing and blasphemy upon his conscience and upon 
his heart, what would become of his soul? It is a fear- 
ful thing. You look upon a thief as a horrid monster, 
many of you, and you think he is a curse to the com- 
munity, but is it not as bad to break God's laws as to 
break the laws of the state? You elect men to your 
legislature to make laws for you, and you think the laws 
which they make ought to be be revered and honored 
more than the laws of high heaven. Here is a law 
from heaven, and that law says "thou shait not take 
the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Man shows 
contempt for God and his laws and goes on blas- 
pheming. 

The next weight we will put in the balances is, 
" Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." As it 
looks to me, we are drifting into a dark age* We 



222 TKKL. 

thought when we had slavery in this country that it was 
a great curse to the land; but we have something worse 
to-day. If this nation gives up its Sabbath, we are not 
going to see blood flow in a few Southern States, but it 
will not be long before it will flow in all our cities. It 
won't be long before we will see a darker day than 
this nation has ever seen. No republic can exist with- 
out righteousness. If men are going to violate the law 
of God; if you teach men to break God's law, how long 
will it be before they will take the laws of man in 
their hands and tear them, as it were, to pieces and 
throw them to the winds and trample them under their 
feet? 

We have to teach men to honor God's law if we 
expect them to honor the law of man. We see this 
desecration of the Sabbath increasing every year, giving 
up a little here and giving up a little there. A few 
years ago in Chicago we did not have a theater open on 
the Sabbath, but now every theater is open. Every 
Sunday night those theaters are crowded. I want to 
say to the working men, if you give up the Sabbath, 
you give up the best friend you've got, and it will not 
be long before these capitalists will take your Sabbath 
and make you work seven days in the week, and you 
will not earn a dollar more than you do now in six 
days. God is our friend; he would not have given us 
one day in seven unless it was for our good. Man needs 
it, beast needs it. So let us honor the Sabbath day and 
keep it holy. If we have to give up our business and 
get some other business, let us do it even if "we don't 
make quite so much money. It is a good deal better 
for us to be right, to know we are honoring God, and 
to have God on our side, than it is to be breaking God's 
law. If a father teaches his child not to observe the 

Sabbath, takes him out riding on Sunday, teaches him 
U 



TBK£L» 



223 



not to go to the house of God, it will not be long before 
that boy will break his father's commandments. You 
teach him to dishonor God's law and he will dishonor 
yours. Is not that so? Does history not teach you 
that? Look around you. Have you got to go to the 
Bible to find that out? Is it not so? You take a man 
that goes around on the Sabbath, who don't teach his 
boy to go to Sabbath-school and to church, but teaches 
him to play marbles, and it will not be long before 
that boy will break that father's heart — if he has a 
heart 

Throw this commandment into the balances and 
Sabbath-breaker, step in. If you do, what will become 
of you? You would find written on the wall, " Tekel. 
Thou art weighed in the balances and art found want- 
ing." If a man cannot keep one day out of seven, what 
is he going to do with that eternal Sabbath in heaven? 
He will not want to go there. Heaven would be hell 
to him, 

I must pass on. " Honor thy father and thy mother." 
That is another thing that shows we are drifting into a 
dark age. Men seem to be void of natural affection. 
Now, I want to call your attention to this fact; wherever 
you see a young man or young lady treating their 
parents with scorn and contempt, you may just mark 
this they will never prosper. I am not an old man and 
I am not a prophet, but I have lived long enough to 
notice that I have yet to find the first case where a 
young man or young lady has started out in life that has 
dishonored father and mother, that has treated them with 
scorn and contempt, that has ever prospered. I believe 
to-day one reason why so many men's way are hedged 
up, and they do not prosper is because they have dis- 
honored their parents. I do not know of any thing that is 
more contemptible. I do not know of any thing that 



224 TK&EI* 

sinks a man lower in my estimation, than to hear him 
speak disrespectfully of his father and mother, that cared 
for him in his childhood, that watched over him in sick- 
ness and did everything they could for him, 

A young man that will go out and get drunk and 
come home at midnight or I or 2 o'clock in the morning, 
knowing his grey-haired mother is sitting up for him 
and weeping, is crushing that mother, just breaking her 
heart, just murdering her by degrees. I do not know 
why it is not just as bad to murder your father and 
mother, break their hearts and take months to do it and 
to kill them, as it is to take a revolver and shoot them 
down at once. There are hundreds of young men doing 
that to-day. You haven't got to go out of Cleveland to 
find them. I venture to say while I am talking here to- 
night some young is in a brothel or in some saloon or 
billiard hall, who will go home to-night or to-morrow 
morning beastly drunk and curse the mother that gave 
him birth, and curse her grey hairs, and perhaps lift up 
that great strong arm of his and beat that mother. Or 
some husband will go and be untrue to some wife and 
go home, and if she says a word, down comes that right 
arm upon her. Yes, it is only one, two or three 
murderers we have perhaps in jail at a time, but how many 
walk the streets of Cleveland to-day. I tell you a 
young man that don't honor his father and mother, need 
not expect to prosper in this life, or in the life to come. 

There was a young man who used to think considerable 
of his parents. He was a very fine looking young man. 
His father was a great drunkard, and his mother used to 
take in washing just to give that boy an education. She 
kept him at school and worked hard to do it. But one 
day he was out on the sidewalk talking with his mother. 
She had been washing and was not dressed as well as 
lome ladies. He saw a school-mate coming towards 

iz 



tskbLm 223 

him and he walked away from that mother. The school- 
mate asked him who that woman was he was talking 
to, and he said it was his washer- woman. Ashamed to 
own his own mother. You laugh, young lady. Shame 
on such a man as that. I think we ought to be ashamed 
of a man that would speak that way of a mother who 
is toiling day and night to give him an education. 
w Honor thy father and thy mother." Treat them kindly, 
you will not always have them. By and by they will 
be gone. No one in the wide world loves you like that 
mother. No one in the wide world loves you like that 
father. Treat them kindly. Make the evening of their 
lives as sweet as you can. It will come back again. 
You will have children by and by perhaps, and they 
will treat you kindly. But bear in mind if you treat 
that father and mother with scorn and contempt, 
by and by, after a few years have rolled around 
you will be paid back in your own coin. " Be not 
deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap." The reaping is coming, 
and men have to reap the same seed that they sow. 

You treat that aged mother of yours with scorn and 
contempt and expect God to smile on you and prosper 
you, and you will be deceived. 

If there is a man or woman in this audience to-night 
that is not treating father or mother with respect or 
kindness, let him step into the balances and see how 
quick they will strike the beam. You will be found 
lighter than dust in the balances* You will find that 
word " Tekel " blazing out. " Thou art weighed in the 
balances and art found wanting." 

But I must pass on. " Thou shalt not kill." I sup- 
pose if you had said a few months ago to some of those 
men that have been killing lately that they were going 
to come to that, they would have saidj M Am I a dog 



226 



TEKKL,. 



that I should do it?" They thought they would not; 
but when Satan takes possession of a man you don't 
know what he will do; you can't tell. When a man 
goes on step by step from one thing to another, it will 
not be long before he will be guilty of almost any crime, 
I have not got to kill a man to be a murderer. If I wish 
a man dead, I am a murderer at heart. That is murder. 
If 1 get so angry with a man that I wish him dead, I 
am guilty in the sight of God. God looks at the heart, 
not at the outward man. We nly look at the acts of 
men, but God looks down in the hearts. If I have mur- 
der in my heart, if I wish a man or woman dead, I am 
guilty. " Thou shalt not kill." As said before, there 
are a good many men who are not looked upon as mur- 
derers, that really kill their parents, kill their children, 
kill their wives. How many drunken men have mur- 
dered their wives! They have literally killed them inch 
by inch. They have gone to the altar and sworn b rfore 
the God of heaven they would love, cherish, protect and 
support that woman, and inside of five years they have 
become horrid monsters, and beaten that defenceless 
woman, until at last she has gone with a broken heart 
into the grave. Nothing but a cruel husband murdered 
that woman. " Thou shalt not kill." Do you think a 
God of judgment, a God of equity, a God of mercy will 
not bring those men into judgment? 

But I must pass on. We will put those six weights 
right up there, and come to the next. I would pass over 
this commandment if I dared, but when I see what the 
enemy is doing, when I see the terrible, terrible state of 
things we are having all around, in all kinds of society, 
high and low, I feel that I must cry out and spare not 
u Thou shalt not commit adultery.' 9 It is a sin that k 
not much spoken of. It is one of those things that we 
like to pass over. We near a good deal about intemper* 



THKEU 227 

ance, but the twin sister of intemperance is adultery to- 
day. I want to read to you something that will express 
what I want to say, perhaps, better than I can myself — 
the seventh chapter of Proverbs. 

I want to say to the young people in this audience to- 
night, I do not know of a quicker w r ay to ruin, I do not 
know of a quicker way down to hell than the way of the 
adulterer. Do you know that the average life of a fallen 
woman is only seven years? It is very short. How a 
woman can surrender her virtue and take that road is 
one of the greatest mysteries of the present day, when 
they can look around and see how they have brought 
ruin and blight upon their life, and made it dark and 
bitter. 

Not long ago a scene occurred in Chicago of a mother 
that left her family in Iowa and a man that left his, and 
they came to Chicago, and after getting tired and sick 
of their life, and remorse, I suppose, seized hold of him, 
at the hotel where they were, he cut her throat from ear 
to ear, and as she fled from him into the hall, he cut his 
own from ear to ear and fled into the hall and embraced 
her, and the adulterer and adulteress died in each other's 
arms. What a fearful ending! That is occurring all 
the while from one end of the land to the other. " Thaft 
shalt not commit adultery!" And I want to say to these 
libertines — these men that think they can commit that 
sin and cover it up, and think it never will come to light; 
some of them come to our public meetings; some of 
them come into our churches, and they sweep down the 
broad aisle, perhaps, with their wives upon their arms. 
They take the best seats, perhaps, in our churches, and 
they think the crime is covered up. Be not deceived. 
You ruin some man's daughter, and some vile wretch 
will ruin yours. You will find it out by and by. 

Do you think that God is not going to bring 



228 TBKJKL. 

inen to judgment for this thing? Do you think 
that men can go on, and that they can get clear, 
and the women be cast out? They say the thing is un- 
equal. Well, it may be among men, but bear in mind 
there is a God of equity sitting in the heavens, and this 
thing is going to become straight by and by. Not that 
the women are excused; one is as bad as the other. It 
is a sin, and it is a fearful sin. It is a sin we must cry 
out against at the present time. Don't let any adulterer 
or adulteress think he or she is going into the kingdom 
of God. And I want to say to the men here to-night, if 
you are bound to some fallen woman, if you are to-night 
guilty of that awful sin, give it up or give up heaven. If 
God should summon you into those balances to-night, 
what would become of you, vile adulterer, what would 
become of you? And you, poor, fallen woman! — you 
step in and see what would become of your soul. 
" Thou shalt not commit adultery .* 

I want to say once more before I pass this command- 
ment, that people may cavil and laugh and make light of 
it, as they do; but it is one of the greatest evils of the 
present day. Many a man's life is ruined, many a family 
has been broken up, and many a mother has gone down 
to her grave with a broken heart, because a son or a 
daughter has been ruined. It is a time that the church 
of God should send up one cry that our children should 
be kept. It is a day of temptation. It is a day of trial 
on our right hand and on our left. We are living in a 
day of decayed consciences, as some one has said. Men 
are losing their consciences. It is astonishing how a man 
can talk. I got a letter from a man to-day — the first letter 
I got to-day. He stated he was living this kind of a life, 
and he seems to have no conscience about it, and he 
wanted to have me pray that they may be separated, and 
he says if there is a God they will be separated. H* 



TSKKI^ 229 

doubts whether or not there is a God. Men get so 
steeped in sin that they want to stifle conscience, they 
want to deceive themselves, and they begin to reason 
that there is no God at all. You will find out by and by 
there is a God. Bear in mind God will bring you 
into judgment by and by. Because sentence is not exe- 
cuted at once is no sign He is not going to execute the 
sentence. Because God don't bring men to judgment at 
once is no sign he will not come to judgment. He will 
come. Paul reasoned with Felix " of righteousness, tem- 
perance and judgment to come? God has appointed a 
day when He will judge the world. Men may cavil 
and laugh as much as they like, but the day is appointed, 
the hour is fixed, and men have got to come to judg- 
ment, and then sins which you have committed in secret, 
and which you think are covered up, will come to light 
and be made public, unless they are covered by the blood 
of Christ; unless you repent and turn from them and ask 
God to have mercy upon you. They will be blazoned 
out to that great assembled universe. 

But I must pass on. " Thou shalt not steal." Is 
there a man here to-night that is a thief? O, no, you can 
say there are no thieves here. Ah, don't you flatter your- 
self. There is many a man that thinks he is not a thief, 
that is a thief. When that young man takes twenty- 
five cents out of his employer's till to go to the theatre, 
he is a thief as much as if he stole five thousand dollars 
and got caught. When a man appropriates to himself 
one dollar that belongs to some one else, he is a thief in 
the sight of God. A drop of water is water as much as 
Lake Erie is water; and the man that steals five cents is 
a thief in the sight of God as much as if he stole five 
hundred dollars. Some men think that they are not 
thieves unless they get caught; and they think if they 
cover up their tracks and don't get caught they never wiU 



230 TEKEU 

be brought to judgment. God's eyes are going to and fro 
through the earth. If you have a dollar that belongs to 
some one else, I beg of you, as a friend, to make restitu- 
tion before you go to bed to-night. Pay it back if you 
want the light of heaven to flash across your path, if 
you want the smile and approbation of God to rest upon 
you, pay it back. You will not prosper as long as you 
have some one else's money. " Thou shalt not steal." 
Now go to thinking. Have you anything that belongs 
to some one else? Have you cheated any one? Have 
you jumped on to these horse cars and not paid your fare 
sometime when there was a great crowd and the con- 
ductor did not come around for it? That is stealing just 
as much as if you had been a defaulter or a forger. 
Have you been on the steam cars, and the conductor did 
not happen to come around and get your fare, and have 
you said, " I have got a ride for nothing" ? You are 
a thief. You laugh at it, but it is not to be laughed at. 
What we want to-day is righteousness in this nation. 
What we want in the church to-day above every thing 
else is downright honesty; and may God give it 
to us! These things are not to be laughed at. Do 
you know how men become defaulters? Just in that way. 
They take a little to begin with, and conscience comes 
up and smites them ; but the next day they take a little 
more. Conscience don't trouble them so much. By 
and by they stifle conscience, and they can go on and do 
any thing. That is the way these forgers begin. That 
is the way these defaulters begin. That is the way 
these great noted criminals begin. It is just the entering 
wedge. It is a little thing in their sight. But I tell you 
what we w r ant to remedy is sin, and sin is not little. If 
there is a man here to-night who has commenced a 
downward course, commenced a dishonest life, I want 
to beg of you to-night, before you sleep, make up your 



TEKEI,, 231 

mind, God helping you, that you will straighten up any 
dishonesty of which you have been guilty, let it cost you 
what it will. Make restitution. 

" Thou shalt not bear false witness." I wish I had 
time to dwell on that, and the next : " Thou shalt not 
covet," 

There are those ten weights. Now, you cannot be 
weighed by one of them; you must be weighed by the 
whole. Is there a man or woman in this audience that 
is ready to be weighed? Come. I have heard so much 
about morals— is there a moral man here to-night? Are 
you ready? Have you not broken that decalogue ? Is there 
a man or woman in this audience that has never broken any 
of those commandments? If you have broken one, you 
are guilty. Those are not ten different laws, but one 
law; and if I have broken one of those commandments, 
I have broken the law of God, and I am guilty. 

Let the moralist come up to-night and step into the 
scales, and see how quick he will kick the beam. Bring 
on the moralist. He walks up to those golden scales, 
and he sees written there, " Except a man be born again 
he cannot see the kingdom of God." He says, " You 
will excuse me to-night, sir. I can't be weighed." He 
don't like to step in over the text. He knows very well 
he will be found wanting. He knows very well it will 
be said, " Tekel : Thou art weighed in the balances and 
art found wanting." He goes around on the other side 
of the scales and he sees, " Except ye be converted, and 
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
Kingdom of Heaven." " Well," he says, " I think I will 
not be weighed to-night." He is not quite ready to be 
weighed after all. You know these texts were given by 
Christ to the moralists of His day. But, says the moralist, 
u I will step in, I guess on the other side. I don't like 
to step in over this text ? " and he goes around on the 



232 



TSK2UU 



third side, and there he sees: " Except ye repent, ye shall 
all likewise perish." He saj'S, " I will not go in on that 
side." He steps around to the fourth side. " Except 
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the 
scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the 
Kingdom of Heaven." " Well," he says, " I think I 
will not be weighed in those balances." But bear in 
mind God is going to weigh you in them. You have 
got to be weighed in them. 

Let the rumseller step up to the scales and see if he 
is ready to be weighed. As he steps up to those scales, 
he finds written there in golden letters: " Woe be to the 
man that putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips." 
" Well," he says, " I think I won't be weighed to-night." 
He is not ready. 

Let the drunkard come, rum bottle in hand. He looks 
at those scales and sees: " No drunkard shall inherit the 
kingdon of God." He says, " I will not step in there 
to-night. I am afraid it will be found written on the 
wall, as it was on Belshazzer's wall: "Tekel: Thou art 
weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." 

Where is there a man to-night that is ready to be 
¥/eighed. I can imagine a man up in the gallery says, 
" I wonder what Mr. Moody would do if he was to be 
weighed. I wonder if Mr. Moody is ready to step into 
those scales and to be weighed." I want to tell you I 
am ; and I say it, I hope without any boasting or egotism. 
You may put into the scales all those commandments, 
every one of them, and I am ready to step in against 
them. Do you want to know how ? I will take Christ 
in with me. I took him as my Savior twenty odd years 
ago. 1 am ready to step into those scales with him at 
any time. He will bring it down. He kept the law. 
He was the end of the law for righteousness' sake. 
That is man's only hope. I would not dare to b* 



TEKEL. 233 

weighed without Him ; but with Him I am ready at an} 
time, day or night. If God calls me to step into those 
scales to-night, I will step in; and I will step in with a 
shout, too, and I will not be looking on the wall to see if 
it is written " Tekel : Thou art weighed in the balances, 
and art found wanting," because Christ has kept the law, 
and I have got Him, He offered himself to me, and I 
took Him. He offers himself to every guilty sinner here 
to-night To every man and woman who has broken 
that law there is a Savior offered, there is salvation 
offered, and you can have it and live forever. But with- 
out Christ, what are you going to do? 



NO DIFFERENCE, 



You will find my text to-night in the third chapter of 
Romans and the 22d verse. " For there is no differ- 
ence." I will venture to say there are a good many here 
to-night that will differ with the text But I didn't make 
it; and I am not going to quarrel with you. If you 
don't like it you must settle it with the Word of God. I 
just give it you as I have got it. If I had a servant work- 
ing for me and I should send that servant to deliver a 
message, and he thought it didn't sound right and should 
change the message, I think I should change servants, I 
should want him to deliver the message just as I sent it 
If I am going to be the messenger of God to-night — if I 
am going to preach the Gospel to you, I have to give 
you the law as well as the Gospel. 

Now, we find in this third chapter of Romans, Paul is 
bringing in the law to show man his guilt. If a man 
wants to read his own biography he should turn to the 
third chapter of Romans and he will find it all there. A 
great many men are anxious to get their lives written. 
Why, they are already written. God knows more about 
you than you do about yourselves. If you want to find 
out what man is by nature, all you have to do is to read 
the third chapter of Romans. It is all there. If you want 
to find out what God is, read the third chapter of John and 
you will that God so loved the world, even fallen man, 
that He gave His Son to die for him. 

Now, I do not know a text in the Bible that the im- 
moral man dislikes any more than this one. 

234 



MO DIFFEREf^ClU 235 

many people attack me for preaching this doctrine of 
" No difference." I was led to take it up to-night by 
what I heard last night in the inquiry room. There was 
a moralist there — that is, he said he was a moralist 
— and he could not understand just how he was as bad 
as other people. Now, the longer I live, and the more 
I mingle with men, the more I am convinced that mor- 
alists are scarce, after all. There are a great many who 
think they are very moral ; but I venture to say, if your 
sins and my sins— -I won't leave out one now; I take 
every man and woman in this audience— if all our secret 
thoughts, and all that has been in our hearts, should be 
written on yonder wall, there would be the greatest 
stampede you ever saw. You would get out of this hall 
as if you were struck with the plague. You know very 
well that if your sins were all brought to light you 
would not talk about being moralists, or about being so 
very good. Now, man is not so very good by nature 
after all. "The heart is deceitful above all things." 
Man is being deceived by his own heart Man is bad 
by nature. I don't think you have got to go outside of 
yourself to find out that you are bad. If you will only 
get a look at yourself, if man could only see himself as 
God sees him, he would not be talking about his right- 
eousness. It would be gone very quick. 

Now, just the moment we begin to preach from this 
text man begins to strengthen up and say, " I don't be- 
lieve it," We think we are a little better than our 
neighbors — a little better than other people. 

The next verse throws light upon it. " There is no 
difference, for all have sinned and come short of the 
glory of God." Every one. 

It would be an absurd thing to make a law without a 
penalty. I believe the state of Massachusetts, a few 
years ago, did make a law without a penalty 5 and that 



236 NO DIFFERENCE. 

Legislature became the laughing stock of the whole 
state. What is a law without a penalty? Suppose 
your state Legislature should pass a law that no man in 
the state of Ohio shall steal, and fix no penalty to it, 
the thieves would be in your houses before you got 
home to-night. What do they care for a law that has 
no penalty ? God's law has a penalty to it. There are 
not ten different laws. They are one law. Some peo- 
ple seem to think the ten commandments are ten differ- 
ent laws. They are one law. If you have broken one 
of them you have broken the law, and are therefore 
guilty. I need not break the decalogue to be a sinner; 
if I break one of these commandments I have bro- 
ken the law of God. You need not take up all the 
rails on the railroad track between here and Chicago to 
have a collision — only one rail. A man may say he has 
a good fence around his pasture, but if he leaves one gap 
the cattle get out. What is the fence good for? Take 
one inch of pipe out of that gas pipe and the gas is cut 
off from this building. You need not take out all the 
pipe — take out one inch and there is no gas. So if a 
man has broken the law of God he is guilty ; he ig a 
criminal in the sight of God. That is the teaching of 
the third chapter of Romans. You will find it all 
through the teachings of Christ: he that breaketh the 
least of the law is guilty of all. Why ? Because he has 
broken the law of God. He has transgressed the law of 
God and become guilty in the sight of a pure God. A 
perfect God could give nothing but a perfect law — a per- 
feet standard. There is no trouble about the law. Your 
life and property would not be safe if it were not for the 
law. The law is all right. Skeptics find fault with the 
Bible. You seldom find an infidel attacking the law of 
od. That is all right. We have to have law — could 
not live without law. The trouble is, man has broken 



NO DIFFERENCE, 237 

the law of God. If you have broken one commandment 
you are guilty in the sight of God. If I was hanging 
ceiling by a chain of one hundred links and 
one link should break, down I would come. The links* 
do not all need to break to let me fall. 

When God put man in Eden he bound him to the 
throne of heaven bv a golden chain. When Adam 
fell he broke that golden chain. Man is lost. He 
is out of communion with God. Some men say, "Well, 
do you pretend to say I am as bad as other people ?" 1 
don't know but what you are worse. The moralist 
straightens up and says, " I am not as bad as that drunk- 
ard. Do you call me as bad as that thief, that adulterer, 
and that libertine ? Do you call me as bad as that forger, 
that defaulter?" I don't know but what you are worse; 
really, I can't tell. God judges us according to the light 
we have had. Suppose I have had nothing but light from 
earliest childhood up; that I have been nursed in a reli- 
gious family; I have heard all about God, but 1 turn my 
back upon all His teachings, and I praise myself because 
I think I am better than other people, and call myself a 
moralist. Here is a young man who has a cursing father 
and a cursing mother, and has heard nothing but curs- 
ings and blasphemies. He has had no light. It may be 
I am worse in the sight of God than that man. The 
idea of a man drawing the filthy rags of self-righteous- 
ness about him and thinking he is better than other peo- 
ple! The fact is, '"here is not any thing that grows on 
this Adam tree that is good. It is all bad. I will admit 
that some men have more fruit than others. Suppose 
you have two trees, both miserable, worthless, good for 
nothing. One has five hundred apples and the other 
only five. One has more fruit, but both bad. So one 
may be more fruitful in bringing forth sin, but both bad* 

A friend of mine went into a jail some time ago and 



238 NO DIFFERENCE, 

tell to talking with the prisoners. He began to talk with 
one who was a murderer, and he tried to rouse the man 
up to talk about his awful guilt, but the man thought he 
was not so very bad after all. "Why," said he, "you talk 
as if I was the worst man in the world. There is a man 
down in the other cell who has killed six men; I have 
only killed one." There he was trying to justify himself* 
That is the cry all over the world at the present time. 
Men are measuring themselves by men, and they think 
that because they have not committed as many sins as 
other people they are not so bad. If they could just get 
a glimpse of their own hearts, they would see that they 
were black and vile. 

Now, God never gave the law to save any man. Th e 
law was given that every man's mouth might be stopped 
and the whole world become guilty before God. When 
a man gets a good look at himself in God's law, he does 
not try to make out that he is better than other people; 
he gets down in the dust, and he cries, "God be merci- 
ful to me a sinner." 

Suppose an artist should come here to Cleveland and 
advertise that he could photograph men's hearts — that 
he could get a correct likeness of what is in a man's 
heart — do you think he would take a single likeness in 
all Cleveland? People arrange their toilets, go to the 
artists and get their photographs taken; and if the artist 
flatters them a little and makes them look a little better 
than they really do look, they say, "Yes, that is a very 
good likeness," and they send it to their friends and pass 
it around by post I got one to-night from a friend, and 
it was a very fine one. 

But suppose you could get a photograph of your 
heart Do you think you would send that around? 
There is not a man in all Cleveland who would have a 
photograph of his heart taken. You know it very weiL 

12 



NO DIFFERENCE. 23t> 

There is not any thing that will close a man's mouth 
about his being so pure, and good, and moral, as to gel 
a look at himself in God's looking-glass. The law 
is God's looking-glass dropped down into the world 
that man may see himself as God sees him. Or, in 
other words, the law is made that man may see how 
he has fallen short of God's standard. 

Just a little while before the Chicago fire, I said to my 
family at breakfast that I would come home after dinner 
and take them out riding. My little boy jumped up 
and said, " Papa, will you take us up to Lincoln Park to 
see the bears?" "Yes, take you up to Lincoln Park to 
see the bears." You know that boys like to see animals. 
I hadn't more than gone off before he began to tease his 
mother to get him ready. She washed him, put a 
white dress on him, got him all ready. Then he wanted 
to go outdoors. When he was a little fellow he had a 
strange passion for eating dirt, and when I drove up, 
his face was all covered with dirt and his dress was dirty. 
He came running up to me and wanted me to take him 
up, in the carriage to Lincoln Park. Said I, " Willie, I 
can't take you in that state ; I have got to wash you." " No, 
Pse clean !" " No, you are not. You are dirty. I shall 
have to wash you before I can take you out riding." 
" O, Pse clean, I'se clean ! Mamma washed me." " No," 
I said, " you are not" The little fellow began to cry, 
and I thought the quickest way to stop him was to show 
him himself. So I got out of the carriage, and took him 
into the house, and showed him his face in the looking- 
glass. That stopped his mouth. He never said his face 
was clean after he saw himself. But I didn't take the 
looking-glass to wash him with. I took him away to 
the water. The law is only given to show man his 
needs; to show man his guilt — not to save him. The 
Uw is a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ. But the 



240 NO DIFFERENCE. 

law never saved a man, never will, and never can. The 
law condemns me, shows me my guilt. But Christ 
comes and saves me from the curse of the law. Paul says, 
in this very chapter, that the law was given that every 
mouth might be stopped; and when men will get done 
measuring themselves by their neighbors, by their 
friends, and will begin to measure themselves by God's 
law, they will see just where they are, They will see 
how they have sinned and come short of the glory of 
God ; and they will not see it before. 

Why, you may go to yonder prison at Columbus, and 
you will find there, propably, a thousand prisoners, 
more or less, some of them are there for forgery, some 
for rape, some for theft, some for manslaughter, some 
for murder; and you will find, perhaps, a hundred 
different kinds of prisoners. But the law makes no 
difference. They have all sinned, and come short of 
the requirements of the law of the state. They have 
broken the law. They have transgressed and when 
they came to that prison they all went in alike. Their 
hair was cut short and they put on the garb of the 
prison and they are there. " There is no difference." 
The law of this state recognizes "no difference." They 
are criminals. They are guilty. 

Not long ago one of these whiskey men was taken 
up by the law — a man estimated to be worth a million 
dollars — and he was sent to the prison, and when he got 
to the prison door and wanted to take his trunk in, they 
said, " No, you can't take that." " Well" he said "I am 
afraid I can't get on with the prison fare, and I have 
brought a few things for my own comfort." " No," 
they said, w there is no difference here. The law recog- 
nizes no difference." 

You may divide society into a hundred classes. There 
are the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, 



NO DIFFERENCE. 241 

men of culture, men of science. But the law of God 
recognizes no difference. If a man has broken the law 
of God, I tell you, my friends, there is no difference; 
and the quicker you can find it out the better. A man 
up here on this avenue, worth his millions, who dies 
without Christ, without God and without hope, goes 
down to his grave like a beggar, and there will be no 
difference one minute after his death; and ten days after 
he is in his grave the worms will feed upon his body as 
they would upon a beggar. We make a great difference, 
but God does not look at things as we do. 

Now, the object of this discourse is to get you people 
to-night to give up measuring yourselves by other peo- 
ple. If you want to get a correct measurement, meas- 
ure yourself by the law of God, and see where you are. 

A few years ago, when the city of Chicago was 
incorporated as a city, they gave the Mayor power to 
appoint policemen. When the city was small, the plan 
worked very well, but when it got to be large, it was 
too much power in one man's hands, and he would use 
that power to secure his re-election, and the thing worked 
disastrously for the city government. Some citizens 
went to Springfield to our legislature, and got through 
a Police bill that took the power out of the hands of 
the Mayor, and placed it in the hands of a Board of 
Police Commissioners. The law provided that no man 
should be a policeman unless he was of a certain height. 
I remember there was a great rush to head-quarters to 
get appointments as policemen. Men were going all 
over the city getting recommendations, because it was 
said no man would get an appointment that hadn't a 
good character. Now, for my illustration. Suppose 
that Mr. Doane and myself want to get in as policemen; 
we are running around getting letters from leading men 
of Chicago. We meet at the door at the appointed time, 



242 NO DIFFERENCE, 

and I say, " Mr. Doane, I think I have as good a chance 
as any man in this crowd. I have letters from United 
States senators, representative in Congress, the mayor 
of the city and judges of the supreme court.'* " Well," 
says Mr. Doane, " I have letters from the same ones, 
and I am sure they do not speak any more highly of 
you than they do of me." I step up to the Commissioner 
and lay down my letters, and the Commissioner says to 
me, " Mr. Moody, those letters may be all right, but 
before we read those letters, we will measure you. The 
law says you must be of a certain height." I stand up 
and am measured, but I don't come within the require- 
ment of the law. The law says I must be five feet and 
six inches — for illustration call it that — and I am only 
five feet. I do not come but within a half a foot of it, 
and he hands the letters back to me and says, " Your 
letters may be all right, Mr. Moody, but you have come 
short of the standard; the law says you shall be five 
feet and six inches." Mr. Doane looks down upon me and 
he says, " Mr. Moody, I am a little taller than you are." 
I say, " Mr. Doane, don't say any thing, wait until you 
are measured." Mr. Doane steps up, and he is five feet 
five inches and nine-tenths of an inch. He has come 
short only one-tenth of an inch. There is no difference. 
The way to measure yourself is by God's require- 
ments. Is there a man here who is willing to be meas- 
ured to-night? Are you willing to be measured by the 
law of God, and not by your neighbors and by your 
friends? That is working the mischief. People are all 
the time measuring themselves by their neighbors and 
friends. Be measured by the law of God, and see where 
you are. I do not know of anything that will stop a 
man's mouth quicker. He will not be talking about being 
better than his neighbors if he measures himself by 
God's law. Have you kept it? That is the question* 



NO DIFFERENCE. 243 

I can imagine Noah leaving the ark and going out ta 
pre&di from this text: "There is no difference. Every 
man that dees not get into the ark shall perish." Those 
antediluvians would have laughed at him; they would 
have said, " Noah you had better get back into the ark 
and not talk that stuff to us." " There is no difference. 
All are agoing to perish alike," says Noah. "Every 
man that does not get into the ark will perish." They 
would have caviled at him and laughed at him. I 
doubt whether or not they would not have stoned him to 
death. But did that change the fact? The flood came 
and took them all away — kings, governors, judges, 
rulers, drunkards, harlots, thieves all swept away alike. 
" There is no difference, for all have sinned and come 
short of the glory of God." I can imagine Abraham 
leaving his tent and Lot going down into Sodom a few 
days before Sodom was destroyed, and preaching from 
the text " There is no difference, God is going to rise 
in judgment upon these cities of the plain. Every man 
that does not escape from this city God will destroy. 
When he comes to deal in judgment there will be no 
difference." Those Sodomites would have laughed 
at him. They would have told him he had better go 
back to his tent and his altar. But the fire came and 
they were all destroyed alike. The king of Sodom, 
princes, governors, rulers, all perished alike. 

I can imagine Christ preaching to those men in 
Jerusalem. " God is going to judge Jerusalem, and 
when God comes in judgment there will be no differ- 
ence." And when God judged Jerusalem eleven 
hundred thousand perished. There was no difference. 
All perished alike. 

It seems to me I got a glimpse in the Chicago fire of 
what the Judgment will be, when I saw that fire rolling 
down the streets of Chicago, twenty and thirty feet 



244 NO DIFFERENCE. 

high, consuming man and everything in its march that 
did not flee. I saw there the millionare and the beggar 
fleeing alike. There was no difference. That night our 
great men, learned men, wise men, all fled alike. 
There was no difference. And when God comes to 
judge the world, there will be no difference. Because 
you are in a higher position, or because you have a little 
wealth, because you have a title to your name or some 
position in this world, if you are out of Christ — out of 
the ark, it will make no difference. God has provided 
an ark of refuge, God says, " Come in." God has 
provided salvation. " The grace of God hath appeared 
bringing salvation to all men." You spurn the offer of 
mercy. You just turn aside from this gift. Many a 
man is kicking this unspeakable gift around as he would 
a foot-ball — as if it was not worth picking up. Whose 
fault is it ? God has provided salvation for all. Many a 
man turns his head with a scornful look and says : " I 
don't want it." Ah, my friends, if you refuse this gift 
you must perish. There will be no difference when 
God comes in judgment. 

Wherever man had been tried without God he has 
been a failure. God put Adam in Eden, surrounded 
with every thing that heart could desire, and Satan 
walked in and stripped him of everything he had. I 
don't believe Satan was in the garden thirty minutes 
before he had every thing that Adam had. He was a 
failure. Then God took man and made a covenant with 
him. He says to Abraham, " I will multiply thy seed 
as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the 
sea shore." After that covenant man was a failure. He 
turned away from God. What a stupendous failure 
man was under the Judges! Then we find God bring- 
ing them to Sinai and giving them the law. Who 
would have thought they were not going to keep it\ 



NO DIFFERENCE. 245 

Moses went up into the mountain to have an interview 
with God and took Joshua with him, and was gone but 
forty days. Those men gathered around Aaron and said, 
"Where is Moses? We do not know anything about 
him. Make us a god to worship. They brought gold 
to and him he made them a golden calf. These very 
men that were going to keep the law, inside of thirty 
days were bowing down and worshiping a golden calf, 
and their children have been at it ever since. More peo- 
ple to-day bow down to the golden calf than to the God 
of heaven. Man away from God is a stupendous failure. 
Man was a failure under the prophets. Now, we have 
been two thousand years under grace, which means 
undeserved mercy; and what is man under grace but a 
failure without God? Pick up your daily papers and 
look at your daily records. Look at that transaction in 
Cincinnati within 48 hours! Look at what is occurring 
in all the towns, cities and villages! Man away from 
God is a failure. When will man learn the lesson? 

But I can imagine some of you say, "Is there no star 
to light this darkness? Are we to be left under this 
law?" Right here comes this gospel. Jesus came to 
redeem us from the law. Christ was the end of the law 
for righteousness sake. He has atoned for sin. He has 
by the sacrifice of Himself put away sin. The law can- 
not touch me. Blessed truth. The law condemns me, 
but Christ saves me. The law casts me down, but 
Christ lifts me up. If you can afford to turn away from 
such a Savior and go on in your sins and take the conse- 
quences, you can take a greater responsibility upon your- 
self than I would dare to do. 

Perhaps I can illustrate this by an incident that 
occurred during our war. When the war broke out 
there was a young man in New England w r ho was 
engaged to be married to 6 young lady. He enlisted for 



246 NO DIFFERENCE. 

three years. Letters passed between them. He wrote 
to her after every battle. The three years were nearly 
up. She was counting the days before he would return. 
The battle of the Wilderness came on. She got no let- 
ter for some time. Day aftei day she went to the little 
village post office, but got no letter; but at last one came 
in a strange handwriting, written by one of his comrades. 
She tore it open. It stated that he had lost both of his 
arms in that battle, and how he loved her, but as he 
would be dependent upm the charities of a cold world 
for his support, and as she w as worthy of a noble hus- 
band he released her from the engagement and she 
was at liberty to marn whoia she pleased. She never 
answered that letter. Che rext train that left that little 
village for the South she was on. She went to the 
army, and her tears and entieaties took her beyond the 
lines, and she got down to the hospital in the Wilderness. 
She got the number ^f the ward or cot he was in. She 
went down that Ion-' line of -cots and at last her eye fixed 
upon that number. She rushed to that cot, and bent over 
and kissed that arr^less man, and she said, " I never will 
give you up." Th«se hands will toil for you. I am able 
to support you *nd care for you." That young man 
could have spurred her offer and turned her away and 
said, "No, I wi# not carry out the engagement." He 
was a free age>*t. But she came to him in his helpless 
condition, anr ? now they are living a happy life. She 
has been tru* to her word. She takes care of that man. 
Ah, my friends, it is a poor illustration of what Jesus 
Christ will do for every sinner in this hall to-night. We 
are worse than armless. We are dead in trespasses and 
sins. Christ came from the throne of heaven and 
redeemed us from the law. " He bore our sins for us in 
his own body cm the tree." " He was wounded for our 
transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, and by his stripe* 



NO DIFFERENCE. 247 

we are healed." He took the penalty of the law into his 
own bosom. He tasted death for every man. Christ 
was the end of the law by giving up his own life. Sin- 
ner, will you have him as your Savior? Will you let 
him redeem you from the curse of the law to-night? 
Will you to-night pass from death unto life? You can, 
if you will, have Him. " He that hath the Son hath 
life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." And 
w T hen you and I stand before God, the question will be: 
"What did you do with my Son? I offered you eternal 
life through Him. What did you do with Him ? " 



GRACE. 



My subject is that we have just been singing about, 
"Grace." It is one of those Bible words we hear so 
often and know so little about. You hear a great many 
people talking about their not being worthy to come to 
Christ: they would like to come, but they are not worthy, 
they are not good enough. That is a sign they know 
nothing about grace at all. Grace means unmerited 
mercy, undeserved favor. Just because man don't 
deserve it God deals in grace with him. And when we 
see it in that light we will get done trying to establish 
our own righteousness and our own good deed, and take 
Christ as God would have us. ^ 

Now there is not any part of the Bible in which you 
will not find God shining out in grace; or, in other 
words, He wants to deal with all man in grace. He 
don't delight in judgment. He delights in mercy. 
That is one of his attributes. He is anxious to deal in 
mercy with every man, woman and child on the face of 
the earth. But the trouble is men are running away 
from the God of grace, they don't want grace, won't 
have it, won't take it as a gift. 

In proof of this you will find that away back in Eden, 
the first thing after the fall of man, God dealing in 
grace with Adam. You find, as you read the account of 
his fall, of his transgression, that there is not any sign 
at all of repentance. When God came to deal with 
Adam there is not any sign of Adam asking for pardon. 
If h% asked for pardon it has not been put on record. 

248 



GRACE. 249 

There is no confession; there is no contrition; there ia 
no prayer for mercy; and yet we find the God of all 
grace dealing with Adam there Eden in love — in grace. 
He had mercy upon him. If He had dealt in judgment 
without grace, He would have hurled him out of Eden, 
or He would have let Eden be his resting place. He 
would have perished right there in Eden. But we find 
God dealt in grace with Adam. He pitied him, and He 
had mercy upon him. 

You will find that, all through the Old Testament, 
grace here and there shines out; but we don't see it in 
its fullness until Christ came. He was the embodiment 
of grace and truth. 

In the first chapter of John's gospel and the fourteenth 
verse it says, " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth 
came by Jesus Christ." 

Again, in the fifth chapter of Romans and the fifteenth 
verse, we read, " But not as of the offence, so also is the 
free gift." Emphasize that little w T ord free. It is a free 
gift. " For if through the offence of one many be dead, 
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, 
which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto 
many." 

Now, grace came by Jesus Christ and hath abounded 
unto many. As we lost life in the first Adam, we get 
life in the second Adam. We lost every thing, you 
might say, in the first Adam, but we get it all back, and 
more, too, in the second Adam. He came full of grace 
to have mercy on man and to save. We cannot get the 
grace of God except through His Son. That is the 
channel that the gifts of God flow through. If a man 
thinks he is going to get by Christ and going right to 



250 GRACE, 

the Father and have God deal in mercy with hirn he is 
deceiving himself, Christ is the annointed one, the sent 
one. God sent Him to deal in grace with men; and if 
you want the God of all grace to meet you and bless 
you, you must meet Him at the foot of the cross ; you 
must meet Him in Christ. 

When the nations around Egypt went down into 
Egypt to get corn, the king of Egypt sent them to 
Joseph. He put every thing in Joseph's hands. So the 
King of heaven has put every thing in Christ's hands ; 
and if you want mercy you must go to Christ, because 
He delights in mercy; and there is not a man or woman 
on the face of the earth who really w r ants mercy that 
cannot find it in Him. He is the God of all grace; that 
is what Peter says. Men talk about grace, but the fact 
is we don't know much about grace. If I went to a 
bank and had a pretty good reputation for having money, 
if I was worth considerable, and I could get another 
man that was worth a little more to endorse my note, I 
might get, perhaps, five hundred dollars for a little while, 
but I would have to give a note, and perhaps have to 
secure that note, and it would read, " Thirty days after 
date, or sixty days after date, I promise to pay." Then 
they give what they call three days grace, and they 
make you pay interest for those three days; and if you 
are short a dollar they will sell every thing you have to 
get that from you. Men call that grace. They don't 
know any thing about grace at all. If they had grace 
they would give you not only the principal, but the in- 
terest and all. That is what grace is. I think the reason 
men know so little about grace is that they are measuring 
God by their own rule. Now we love a man as long as 
he is worthy of our love. When he is not we cast 
him off. Not so with the God of all grace. Nothing 
will give Him greater pleasure than to deal in mercy — 
to deal in grace. 



ORACE* 251 

Paul is called the apostle of grace. If you look at 

his fourteen epistles carefully, you will find that every 
one of them winds up with a prayer for grace, 

Now, I want to call your attention to a scene that 
occurred in the life of Christ. See how grace just flowed 
out. There was a woman came to him who had a 
daughter who was grievously tormented at home. 
Perhaps some of you have children that are possessed of 
bad spirits, possessed of a demon, children that are jus t 
breaking your hearts and bringing ruin upon your home 
and bitterness into your life. Well, this woman had a 
child that was grievously tormented, and she started off 
to Christ. He was coming to the coast of Tyre and 
Sidon, and she came out to that coast. She was not an 
Israelite. He had come for the lost sheep of the house 
of Israel. God sent him first to the Jews. But grace 
would flow out. The apostles tried to keep it back, but 
it would flow out. He came in the borders of that 
country, and this woman had faith, and she came and 
cried to the Lord to help her, and she kept crying. The 
Lord knew all about her, but he wanted to teach those 
Jews around him a lesson. He wanted to teach them 
the lesson of grace. The most difficult thing Christ had 
to do when he was down here was to teach those Jews 
grace* The men that were around him even those 
twelve apostles, could not understand about this grace. 
They w r ere all the time going around establishing their 
own righteousness. " We are of the seed of Jacob ; we 
are the descendants of Moses and Abraham." They 
thought they were better than the nations around them 
They called the nations around them Gentile dogs but 
they were the seed of Abraham. He was trying to 
teach them grace. They could not understand it This 
woman comes to the coast of Tyre and Sidon and begins 
to cry for help. The disciples tried to send her away. 



&OZ ORAtK. 

She was terribly in earnest, and she kept praying right 
there in the streets. She was hungering for something. 
I hope some one has come up to this Tabernacle to-day 
hungering for something. You will get it if you are 
hungering and thirsting for it. She was terribly in 
earnest She wanted the Lord to bless her. She put 
herself right in the place of that child. At last one of 
the twelve — perhaps it was Peter; he was generally the 
spokesman of the twelve — says : " Lord send her away ; 
she is bothering us." Ah! Peter did not know the 
heart of the Savior. He had a blessing in his heart for 
that woman. But the woman kept on crying. At last 
he though he would try her, and he says: "It is not 
meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs." 
Now, if she had been like some women in Cleveland 
she would have probably said, " What ! you call me a 
dog do you ? I won't take any thing from you. I know 
lots of women who are meaner than I am; and worse than 
I am. There's a woman lives down on the same street I 
live, and she belongs to the seed of Abraham, and she is a 
good deal meaner than I am." How mad she would have 
got. But see what she did : " Yes, Lord; but the dogs eat 
of the crumbs that fall from his master's table." Ah, it 
pleased the Master wonderfully. He did not send her 
away. " Oh, woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee 
as thou wilt" That is a blank check for her to fill "out. 
The whole treasury of heaven was open to her, and she 
could walk in and take what she wanted. She did not 
come with any work, She did not come with any 
tears. She just came for mercy. And that beautiful 
prayer — some people tell us they can't pray; but this is 
one of the most beautiful prayers on record. " Lord," — 
she called him Lord; he was divine; he was not mere 
man — " Lord help me." Three golden links bound her 
right to the God of all grace. You tell me you can't 



GRACK. 253 

pray! Why, that little child there can make that prayex, 
" Lord, help me." That is all she said, and that is all 
she wanted. She wanted help. She had come for that, 
and she got it. If you come to-day to meet the God of 
all grace and want help, he is ready to help you. He 
delights to help. He likes to give gifts to the sons of 
men. He says, "It is more blessed to give than to 
receive." He has gifts, and He wants to give every one 
of us some to-day, if we will receive them. He is full 
of grace. It don't grieve Him to have us come too 
often. It don't grieve Him to have us ask too great 
tilings. The only way we can displease God is not to 
come often enough; and when we do come not to ask 
for enough. This woman came for a blessing, and she 
got it She went right home and found that child 
perfectly whole. 

In the seventh chapter of Luke you will find another 
case where grace seems to come out. A certain centu- 
rion's servant was sick, and when the centurion heard of 
Jesus, he sent the elders of the Jews to ask Him to come 
and heal his servant. And the Jews came and said, 
u Lord, there is a centurion whose servant is very ill, and 
he wants to have you come and heal him; and we want 
to have you come at once, because he is worthy." Now, 
mark this: The Jews put it on the ground of his worth- 
iness. What had he done to make him worthy? Why, 
he had built a synagogue. They thought Christ ought 
to stop His work and turn aside at once and go and hea] 
that man's servant, because he was worthy. They pu* 
it on the ground of works—because he had built a syna- 
c gogue. Do you know, I believe that is the mischief 
with many of our churches. I believe that is the troubk 
with a good many people. They think God is un- 
der obligations to them. They think God owes 
them something. They think because they bare 



254 GRACE. 

built a synagogue, or helped build some church, or 
endowed some college, that God ought to deal in grace 
with them and ought to have mercy upon them. Now, 
it is " to him that worketh not, but believeth." Now, 
Christ starts to go to that centurion's house as if He 
was going to deal with him in that way — as if He was 
going to put it on the ground of works. But before He 
gets to his house, the man sent friends to Him, saying, 
" Lord, don't trouble yourself; I am not worthy that you 
should come into my house; neither thought I myself 
worthy to ask you; so I sent these Jews." He thought 
other people better than himself. And I tell you when 
a man gets there, he gets in a position where God can 
deal in grace with him; he is pretty near the kingdom 
of heaven. But the trouble with us Americans is, we 
think we are a little better than other people. We just 
reverse God's order, and we think that other people are 
a little lower down, and a little worse than we are. But 
this centurion thought he was not worthy to come and 
ask Christ to heal his servant. He sent men to 
Him saying, "Now, you speak the word, and it will 
be done." That pleased Christ. He turned around and 
said to those Jews, " I have not found so great faith, no, 
not in Israel." Here was a centurion. He did not 
belong to the tribe of Abraham; but among the Jews He 
had not found a man that had such faith. The Lord said 
the word, and the servant was healed right then and 
there. He dealt in grace with him. So when you and 
I are in such a position that God can deal in grace with 
us, that very moment God deals in grace with us. Well, 
when is it? When we are just nothing, and are willing 
to let God have mercy upon us, then he will have mercy, 
not before. 

Now, if you will turn to Ephesians you will find that 
he deals in grace without works. You hear people talk 

13 



GRACE. 2-. -j'O 

about trying to do better. They think they can do some- 
thing that will commend them to God, and that God 
will have mercy upon them. Instead of giving up all 
works and letting God save them in His own way, they 
are trying to work their way to God, and that is the rea- 
son that they do not come. I believe to-day that works 
is one of the great obstacles in the way. Men are trying 
to put their good works in the place of a Savior. In the 
second chapter of Ephesians, second verse, we read, 
" That in the ages to come He might show the exceed- 
ing riches of his grace in His kindness toward us through 
Jesus Christ. For by grace are you saved through faith; 
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." 
Through grace are you saved. Now mark the words. 
There is one lady that is not listening. She has gone to 
sleep. I wish, friends, if you see any one asleep you 
would just hunch them with your elbow and wake them. 
You may save a soul in that way. " For by grace are 
ye saved through faith, and that not by yourselves! It 
is the gift of God ; not of works; lest any man should 
boast." 

There will be one thing we will miss when we get to 
heaven, and that is boasting. We hear enough of that 
down here. I am sure I don't want to hear any more. 
You cannot go into any of these cities hardly but what 
you find a lot of self-made men boasting of what they 
have done — started poor and got rich, and have done 
this and this. It is, I I — boasting. I am sure there 
would be a good deal of boasting in heaven, if men 
could get there by their works. But you cannot get 
there in that way. If you get there, you have to get 
there by the sovereign grace of God. Salvation is a 
gift. You must take it as a gift. If a man couid get 
to heaven by works, he would carry boasting into hea- 
ven with him. Suppose a man could work his way up 



256 GRACE. 

to heaven, what is he going to do when he gets there ? 
He could not join the chorus around the throne singing 
the song of redemption. He would have to have a lit- 
tle harp and get off in a comer by himself. 

Then in the eleventh chapter of Romans and sixth 
verse Paul says, "And if by grace, then it is no more of 
works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be 
of works, then is it no more grace.' 5 He is there bring- 
ing out the point. He says, if men are saved by works 
there is no grace about it at all. 

Paul says in the fourth chapter of Romans and fifth 
verse, "It is to him that worketh not, but believeth." 
We get salvation by faith and not by works. Not but 
that salvation is worth working for. It is worth climb- 
ing mountains, crossing rivers, swimming streams cross- 
ing deserts and lakes and going round the world on our 
hands and knees for. It is worth it no doubt about it, 
but you can't get it in that way, you can't get it by works. 
"It is to him that worketh>not but believeth." If I em- 
ployed a man to work for me all day and I gave him two 
dollars for the day's work, and he goes home and his 
wife says to him "John, whex*e did you get that two dol- 
lars? " and he said " I worked and earned it," there 
would be no grace about it at all. But suppose he is 
sick and could not work, or suppose I did not have any 
work for him and he was in distress* and I gave him two 
dollars. He goes home and his wife says, "John, where 
did you get that money? " and he says, " Why, it is a 
gift; Mr, Moody gave it to me." 

Now, if you ever get salvation you have to take it a* 
a gift. You cannot buy it, and you cannot get it by 
your good works. 

Suppose I should say to this audience if any body wants 
this Bible he can have it, and a man steps up, I reach out 
the Bible, he takes it, pats it under his arm and starts off 



»SLAC£. 257 

home. He gets home, and his wife says, u John, where 
did you get that Bible?" And he says, " why, Mr. 
Moody gave it to me." That would be a gift. But sup« 
pose I should say I will give that Bible to any one that 
wants it, and a man comes up and says, " Mr. Moody, 
I don't just like your terms. I don't like to be under 
obligations to you," and that is about the way with sin- 
ners; they do not like to be under obligations to God, 
So this man says, " I would like to take it, but not on 
your terms. I will give you twenty-five cents for the 
Bible." I know it is worth a good deal more than that; 
but suppose I take the twenty-five cents and the man 
goes home with the Bible under his arm, and his wife 
says, "John, where did you get that Bible? " He says, 
" I bought it." It is no gift at all. He bought it. 

Now, don't you see that it is a gift? All through the 
Bible it is called a gift. If it is a gift it must be without 
works — it must be without money. It would be no gift 
at all if you paid for it— if you paid a farthing. It is a 
gift from God. But you can spurn the gift. You can 
trample it under your feet You can say, "I will not 
have grace." Then you must have judgment. If any 
man will not have grace he must have judgment. If 
a man will not have mercy he must have punishment 
Is not that the teaching of the Scriptures? God says, 
u I delight in mercy; I want to give you the gift of eter- 
nal life." " The wages of sin is death." Man has got 
to take his wages whether he wants to or not. " The 
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal 
life." 

Now, the ^question comes, To whom does he offer 
this gift? — to the righteous? He offers it to the world. 
He offers it to sinners; and if a man can prove that he is 
a sinner I can prove he has got a Savior, If man can 
prove he was born into this world I can prove that Ged 



258 #xacb. 

has provided a Savior for him. " God gave him up," 
says Paul, "freely for us all," I like these texts that 
have these sweeping assertions that take us all in. " God 
gave him up ior us all." Christ did not die for Paul 
any more than he did for the rest of us. He tasted 
death for us all. " That is what I believe," says a man 
down there, "and every man will be saved." Yes, 
every man that will lay hold of the cross will be saved. 
" If ye die in your sins, where I am ye cannot come." 
If a man goes on sinning, violating the law of God, 
trampling it under his feet, and will not take the yoke 
of God upon him down here, do you think he is going 
into the kingdom of God? Do you think he will have 
any taste for heaven? 

In the second chapter of Titus, eleventh and twelfth 
verses, Paul says, "For the grace of God that bringeth 
salvation hath appeared to all men." I can imagine a 
man says: "Do you think that is really true?" "Yes." 
"What! Does that mean "drunkards?" "Yes, every 
drunkard in Cleveland." "What! Do you mean all 
these harlots that are walking the streets to-night?" 
"Every harlot the grace of God hath appeared, bringing 
salvation to every man." "What! Do you mean gamb- 
lers?" "Yes, every gambler." "And these murderers 
down here in prison, and some that haven't been caught?" 
"Yes; every murderer. The grace of God hath ap- 
peared, bringing salvation to all men." If men are lost, 
it is because they spurn God's gift. They spurned His 
offer of mercy. It is not that God don't offer it. It is 
as free as the air we breathe. 

I remember preaching upon the grace of God once 
in Chicago, to a fashionable congregation, and I was just 
hungering for some souls. I was anxious that the grace 
of God might find some one there, and while I was 
preaching I was looking around to see if I could see any 



GRACE. 



259 



one that was anxious to be saved. At the ciob® of the 
meeting I said, "If there is any one here that wants to 
be saved, I will be glad to stay and talk with him." It 
was one of the coldest nights of the winter, and they all 
got up and went out, and my heart sank within me. I 
looked all around and did not see any one wait. I got 
my overcoat, and was the last one to leave, as I supposed ; 
but as I got to the door, I saw a man behind the furnace, 
He was crying as if his heart would break. I sat down 
by his side and I said, "What is the trouble ?" He said, 
"Well, you said something to-night that broke my 
heart." "What is it?" "You said that the grace of 
God was for the likes of me." I said, "That is good; I 
am glad it has reached you." He thought he could not 
be saved. But it was for the likes of him. I talked 
with him, and found out what his trouble was. He was 
just one of those poor unfortuate men that liquor had 
got the mastery of, and, although it was one of the cold- 
est nights, he had no coat on. He drank that up. He 
said that within the past six months he had drank up 
twenty thousand dollars. "And now," said he, "my 
wife has left me, and my children, and my own father 
and mother have cast me off, and I expected to die 
here in the gutter one of these nights. I expected this 
was my last night." He said, "I didn't come in to heal 
you; I came in to get warm, but my heart is broken 
Do you think the grace of God can save, me — a poor 
miserable, vile wretch like me?" I said, "Yes." 

It was refreshing to preach the gospel of the Son of 
God to that poor man, I prayed with him, and after I 
prayed with him, he didn't ask me for any money, but I 
took him to a place where he was provided for that 
night, and the next morning I had a friend go to the 
pawnbroker's to get his coat-— got his coat upon him, and 
m a little while he came out a decided Christian; aad 



260 or ac a. 

when Mr. Sankey and myself went to Europe, I don't 
know a brighter light in all the Western States than 
that young man. The grace of God found him. The 
grace of God saved him, and the grace of God has kept 
him. 

That is what the grace of God is for. There is not a 
man, woman or child in Cleveland so far gone, but the 
grace of God can save him. What we want is, as Chris- 
tians, to be up and publishing the tidings — proclaiming 
the glorious gospel of Christ. It is a gospel of glad tid- 
ings. My friends, make haste. Take the torch of sal- 
vation and carry it down into the dark lanes, and dark 
alleys, and dark homes, and light them up with the glo- 
rious gospel of the Son of God. Jesus is mighty to save. 
His name shall be called Jesus for He shall save His peo- 
ple from their sins. He is a mighty savior, but the 
world don't know it. The world has been deceived by 
the devil — has been blinded by the god of this world. 
What we want is to tell them that Christ is able to save, 
and that He is ready to save. 

There is a story told of William Dorset, that York- 
shire farmer. He was preaching one night in London, 
and he made the remark that there was not a man in all 
London so far gone but that the grace of God could save 
him. That is a very strong assertion, for there are some 
pretty hard cases in London, a city of four million inhab- 
itants. You go into the east of London and see that 
awful pool of iniquity — the stream of death and misery 
flows right on. But he made that statement, that there 
was not a man or woman in all London so far gone but 
that the grace of God could save them. It fastened in 
a young lady's mind. She went home that night, and the 
next morning she went to see the Yorkshire farmer. She 
said, " I heard you preach last night, and I heard you say 
that there was not a man so far gone in all London but 



MAC*. 261 

that the grace of God could save him." She said, " Did 
you really mean it?" "Why? "he said, "certainly I 
meant it" "And do you think that there is not a man in 
all London but that can be saved if he will be? " " Why, 
certainly," said Mr. Dorset, " not a man." " Well," she 
said, " I am a missionary and I work down in the East 
End of London, and I have found a man there who says 
that there is no hope for him. He is dying, and I can't 
make him believe that there is any hope for him. I wish 
you would go and see him." The man of God said he 
would be glad to go. She took him down one of those 
narrow streets until they came to an old filthy building- 
She said, " I think, perhaps, you can manage him better 
alone." It was a five- story building. He went up 
stairs to the upper story and found a young man lying 
there upon some straw; there was no bed. Ah! the way 
of the transgressor is hard ! He had got clear down into 
great poverty and want, and there he was sick and dying. 
Mr. Dorset bent over him, whispered into his ear and 
called him friend. The young man looked up at him 
astonished. " You are mistaken, sir, in the person. You 
have got in the wrong place." "How is that?" asked 
Mr. Dorset. " Well, sir, I have no friend; I am friend- 
less. He said, " You have a friend." Then he told him 
of the sinner's friend. He told him how Chnst loved 
him. The young man shook his head, " Christ 
don't love me." "Why not?" "I have sinned against 
Him all my life." "I don't care if you have. He loves 
you still and He wants to save you." And he preached 
Christ to him there. He told him of the glorious grace 
of God, He told him that God could save him, and he 
read to him out of the Bible. The light of the gospel 
began to dawn upon that darkened mind, and the first 
sign of a new life was, his heart went out tov/ard those 
whom he had injured, and he said, " If I could only know 



262 OitACE, 

that my father would forgive me I could die in this 
garret happy." He asked him where his father lived. 
He said, "In the West End of London." Mr. Dorset 
said, " I will go up and see him and will ask him if he will 
not forgive you." The young man shook his head. " I 
don't want you to do that. Why, sir, my father has dis- 
owned me. He has disinherited me. My father has 
had my name taken off the family record. He does not 
own me any more as his boy. I am as dead, sir, to him # 
If you go and talk to him about me he will get angry 
and order you out of the house, and you have been so 
kind to me I don't want your feelings hurt." Mr. 
Dorset went up to the West End of London to a most 
beautiful place and rang the bell. A servant dressed in 
livery came to the door. Mr. Dorset inquired if his 
master was in, and was told that he was. He was taken 
into the drawing-room, and while he was waiting there 
for the man of the house to come down, he looked around 
him. There was not a thing that heart could desire that 
had not been laid out on that beautiful home. By and 
by the man came into the room. Mr. Dorset got up and 
went across the room to shake hands with him. He 
said, " You have a son, sir, by the name of Joseph, have 
you not?" The father's hand fell by his side. His 
countenance changed. Mr. Dorset saw that he had 
made him very angry. He said in a great rage, " No, 
sir. And if you have come here to talk to me about that 
worthless vagabond I want you to leave my house. I 
don't allow any one to mention his name in my presence. 
He has been dead to me for years, and if you have been 
to him you have been deceived. He cannot be relied 
upon." He turned on his heel to go out of the room, to 
leave him. Mr. Dorset said, " Well, he is your boy yet. 
He won't be long." The father turned again; "Is my 
Joseph sick? " u Yes, your boy is at the point of death, 



©hacs. 263 

sir. He is dying, I have not come here to ask yon t© 
take him home, or to ask you to give him any thing, sir; 
I will see that he has a decent burial. All I want is to 
have you tell me that you forgive him, and let him die in 
peace." The great heart of the father was broken, and 
he said, "Forgive him? Oh, I would have forgiven 
him long ago if I had known he wanted it Forgive 
him! Certainly. Can you take me to him?" The 
man of God said he would take him to him, and they 
got into a carriage and were soon on their way ; and 
when the father reached that garret he could hardly rec- 
ognize his boy, all mangled and bruised by the fall of 
sin. The first thing the boy said to his father was, 
"Father, can you forgive me? Will you forgive me?" 
" Oh, Joseph, I would have forgiven you long ago if I 
had known you wanted it" He met him in grace right 
there. The father said, " Let my servant take you in the 
carriage and take you home. I cannot let you die in 
this fearful place." u No, father, I am not well enough 
to be moved. I shall die soon, but I can die happy now 
that I know you have forgiven me; for I believe that 
God, for Christ's sake has forgiven me." And in a 
little while, with his head on the bosom of his father, 
Joseph breathed his last, and passed back to his God. 

Yes, my friends, that father was willing to forgive him 
when he knew that the boy wanted grace. Now God 
knows all your hearts, and if you want grace to-day the 
God of all grace will meet yom He will meet you in 
mercy. He will meet you in pity. He will bless you 
to-day. He wants to bless you. Sin ruins, sin casts 
down, but the grace of God lifts up. O, may the grace 
of God lift you up to-day out of the pit and place your 
feet on the Rock of Ages, 



COME. 

I vrant this audience to-night, while I am speaking to 
praj I would like to ask you friends that are not 
Christians to pray. I would like to give you a little 
prayer, and I would like to ask you to make it all the 
time [ am speaking : " Lord, if these things are so, show 
then* to me." I don't want you to believe one solitary 
word I say that k not from God. If it is not true, I 
don't want you to believe it. But if it is you certainly 
ought to be honest enough to want to know it. That is 
perfectly fair. No skeptic, no infidel, no deist, no 
atheist, really can object to making that prayer; but if 
there is an atheist here, let hirrji make this prayer! u If 
there be a God, let Him show these things to me, if they 
are true." Let us be willing to-night to let the God that 
created us teach us. 

Now, the text I want to call your attention to is in the 
seventh chapter of Genesis, the first verse. It is a truth 
that a great many of you, perhaps don't believe. A 
great many people have the idea that no such thing ever 
took place. But if you make that prayer we will find 
out. " If it is true. Lord, show it to me. Reveal it to 
me." 

"And the Lord said unto Noah. Come thou and all 
thy house into the ark." That word " come " occurs all 
through the bible. It begins in the first book of the 
bible and runs clear through Revelation. The 
prophets took it up and their cry was, " Come, Come.' 

When that blessed Master came He took up that same 

264 



eoicx. 265 

cry, " Come unto Me all ye that labor." Whea the 
apostles commenced to work after Christ left the earth, 
they kept ringing out that word " Come." We find it 
in thelast chapter of Revelation. 

The first time it occurs in the Bible is in this text I 
have to-night. God Almighty was the preacher, and he 
was calling Noah in out of the coming storm, out of the 
coming judgment that was coming upon the earth. One 
hundred and twenty years before that Noah had 
received the most awful communication that ever came 
from heaven to earth. God told him that he was going 
to destroy the earth on account of bin. Sin sprang into 
this world full grown. The first man born of woman 
was a murderer. I suppose that we, at this age, know 
nothing about the sins of the antediluvians. Men had 
time then to carry out their plans, and their iniquities, 
and their sins. They lived a thousand years, nearly, I 
don't know what would happen now if men should live 
so long in sin. It says in the sixth chapter of Genesis 
and the fifth verse, "And God saw that the wickedness 
of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of 
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." 
The wickedness of earth had come up to God. God 
purposed that he would destroy the earth. But he gave 
them one hundred and twenty long years' grace— one 
hundred and twenty long years to repent; and if they 
had repented like Nineveh, God might have spared the 
Old World, and might have spared those antediluvians. 
But I can imagine they talked very much as men talk 
now, and when Noah brought them that message thej 
mocked him; they laughed at the idea; they scoffed at 
the idea. M God going to destroy this world ! You don't 
suppose we are fools enough to believe that, do you? 
God going to destroy His own world! God going 
against the law of nature! Why it is against our reason? 



266 come. 

It is against our intellect ! We don't see any reason for it, 
God going to destroy the world? Away with such a 
God as that! We won't have anything to do with a God 
of judgment — a God who is going to judge this world 
on account of sin." 

Then there was another class of people, undoubtedly, 
that were atheists, that took the ground that the world 
came by chance, that there was no God, and that Noah 
was a fanatic. Some of them, perhaps, went so far as to 
think he was out of his mind. If they had had insane 
hospitals in those days they would have tried to get him 
into one of them. " Poor, deceived, deluded man! God 
going to destroy the world! God going to drown all in 
it — our great men, our mighty men, our kings, our 
princes, our rulers, our governors and our wise men! 
Away with such a doctrine! We don't believe it" 

Noah and his family stood alone on that dark day. 
There was not a man to stand with him, and God told 
him to build an ark, and the God of heaven was the 
architect. He told him how to build it, and I will ven- 
ture to say that every dollar's worth of material that 
went into that ark came out of Noah's property. He 
could not get a man to help him. When you built this 
church you got every man you could to help you build it. 
But there was not a man that would help Noah build 
that ark. He had to pay the expenses alone. They 
laughed at the idea. They mocked at the idea. They 
ridiculed the idea. Why, the strongest thing against 
you Noah, is that no one believes with you; the great 
men, and all the leading minds of the present day differ 
with you. They don't believe there is going to be a 
flood— that there is going to be a deluge and a judg- 
ment; there are no signs in the heavens. The astron- 
omer looks up in the heavens and they say, " We see no 
sign of a coming storm or a coming judgment It is all 



come. 267 

a delusion, God is not going to destroy the world* t 
don't believe it. And then we have a majority with us, 
They all go with us, and you stand alone." But the 
Did man toiled on. Day after day you can see him there 
at that ark. He must have known when he received 
the commission to build the ark, how much sport they 
would make of it — how he would become the butt of 
ridicule, how he would become the song of the drunkard 
and how he would become the laughing stock of that 
day. If they had the theaters in those days I have not 
any doubt but that they would have Noah's Ark on the 
stage and make all manner of sport of it Lecturers 
went up and down the country warning these antedilu- 
vians against fanaticism, and to be careful about being 
carried away with that delusion. If they had news- 
papers in those days once in a while there would have 
been a reporter coming around to see how he was 
getting along and he would write up an article on 
"Noah's Delusion," or "Noah Ark." If they had the tele- 
graph in those days every once in a while there would 
have been a telegraphic dispatch sent around the world 
about Noah's Ark and about the deluded man spending 
all his money and all his time upon that ark. And then 
there was that gray-haired old man and his family, his 
three sons and their wives, only eight in all, and yet 
he is building an ark large enough to accommodate 
hundreds and thousands. Deluded man! Gone clean 
mad! Some one has suggested the idea that Noah must 
have been deaf or he could not have withstood the scoffs 
and the jeers of that day. But if he was he had an ear to 
hear God. He communed with God and when God spoke 
to him he could hear and he obeyed. Well, a hundred 
years passes away. There is no sign of a coming storm, 
And these men are increasing in their infidelity and m 
their unbelief. They go on scoffing and mocking and 



268 come. 

idiculing. And the men that helped Noah, his carpen- 
ters there whom he hired, undoubtedly if they went into 
a galoon and began to drink or play cards, men would 
make fun of them. " Ah, you are helping that old 
lunatic there to make the ark 1" But I can imagine they 
would say, " Noah's money is as good as any. We don't 
believe in his old ark ; we don't believe in the delusion, 
but we are after his money that is all." 

There are a good many men to-day that talk in the 
same way about the ark that God has provided. The 
day of scoffing is not passed. The day of mocking, and 
the day of ridicule is not passed. Many a man is kept 
out of the kingdom of God because he cannot stand 
the ridicule of some scoffing, sneering, contemptible 
wretch, who would trample his mother's prayers, and 
feelings, and her Bible, and all of her precepts under his 
feet, and mock at the idea of his mother's God. 

Time passes on. The hundred and twenty years have 
expired. The merriment increases. Noah has got his 
ark done. All the contracts are closed. During the 
past hundred and twenty years many a time has he 
stopped the work, perhaps, on the ark and gone out and 
warned his countrymen. He told them of the coming judg- 
ment. But they mocked the old man. They didn't believe 
him. But now the ark is finished. I don't know what 
time of the year it was finished ; perhaps it was in the 
spring. In that spring Noah did not plant any thing. 

" Now, surely he will come to want. Every year he 
has planted, like others he has provided for the future, 
but now he has not planted any thing. He is preparing 
to go into that ark. He says that this is the last year. 
The world is going to be destroyed. What an absurd- 
ity." When we talk now about God's burning up this 
world men scoff at the idea, " God destroy the world ! 
He is not going to do any thing of the kind. The world 



COMB. 



269 



is improving, growing better all the while, What is 
God going to destroy the world for if the world k 
growing better, and if men are getting on so well, 
accumulating wealth and great fortunes. Away with 
such a delusion! God in not going to burn up the world. 
There is no God of Judgment. God is not going to 
judge the world for sin. To be sure they put His Son 
to death. But then he just winked at that. He is not 
going to hold them responsible for that It is all a delu- 
sion." That is the talk of the world to-day. That is 
the cry, 

I can imagine when the last year expired — the one 
hundred and twenty years were up, and the day of grace 
was closing, those men just increased in their scoffing 
and their infidelity. 

Noah at last moves into the ark. That was just the 
climax of the whole thing, A most absurd thing. Why 
didn't he wait until the storm began? There was time 
enough to move ; then to build an ark on dry land, as if 
the storm was going to get up there; and if it did, do 
you think that thing would float? They made all man- 
ner of sport of it, and ridiculed it. Visitors came to look 
at it. You can see them looking around; going up into 
the different stories of it. If they saw Noah around, 
they would say, "That's him, that's him there!" They 
would just point the finger of scorn at him, "deluded 
man." The business men of that day undoubtedly said 
that ark was not worth as much when Noah got it done 
as the nails they put into it. If it was put up at auction 
it would not bring any more than what it was worth for 
kindling wood. It was not good for a house to live in, 
and you could not make a barn of it. Yet that man had 
put all his wealth, probably, in that ark. For years he 
had gathered up ail he had and put it in that ark. The 
world looked upon it with scorn and contempt, but God 



270 COM2* 

r ^ - 

called him in, w Come, thou and all thy house, into the 
ark." And, thank God, his children went in with him. 
Noah lived so that his children had confidence in his 
piety. I have great admiration for Noah. If a man 
could live in that dark day, with those scoffers and unbe- 
lievers all about him, and command his children so that 
they followed him, he must have lived right at home. 
He must have been a true man, and he must have walked 
with God Almighty. And after they had gone God 
gave the earth seven days more of grace. He added 
seven days to the hundred and twenty years. Undoubt- 
edly he gave them that time to repent. If they had re- 
pented then they might have been saved. But they did 
not repent. They mocked at the idea and they said 
to Noah when he told them that he had built that 
ark so large that he might preserve his seed upon the 
earth, the fowls of the air and animal creation, they 
mocked at the idea. " How are you going to get the 
wild fowls and beasts of the^desert into that ark? How 
are you going to get the wild animals from their caves 
and dens into that ark?" And they went on mocking at 
the idea. It was a most absurd idea. 

I can imagine that the first thing that alarmed and 
aroused them was one morning to their surprise they 
saw the heavens black with the fowls of the air, coming 
from the corners of the earth, two by two, mated by 
God, and as they came to that ark Noah took them in. 
And the animals came in from their dens and caves, from 
the corners of the earth, and they came up to the ark 
two by two. The lion and the lamb passed in side by 
side, and as they looked down at the earth they could see 
little insects creeping up towards that ark two by two, 
as if pushed up by some unseen hand, and they cried out, 
"Merciful God, what does this mean?" They are 
alarmed now. That was the first thing, probably, thai 

14 



COME. 271 

woke them up. Would to God they had repented thep 
and cried for mercy. But undoubtedly their wise men 
said, " We don't exactly understand it, but there is no 
danger. Our astronomers tell us there is no sign in the 
heavens ; the old sun shines as it did two thousand years 
ago, and the sta* shine at night as bright as ever^ the 
lambs are skipping on the * 'H sides as usual, the cattle 
are grazing on a thousand hills; business wa d ever more 
prosperous. The world never looked more promising. 
There is no sign of a coming storm. We don't under- 
stand this strange thing; we admit we can't understand 
it, but then there is no sign; be quiet." If some one was 
alarmed they would say, " He is weak minded." That 
is what young men say of their mothers now; that they 
are weak minded women, deluded, carried away. Reli- 
gion may be a good thing for women and weak minded 
people. O, may God forgive the young man that speaks 
of his mother in that way. 

It may be the next thing that took place God shut 
the door. Noah did not shut it. The Almighty shut 
the door. The last year had come, the last month, the 
last week, the last day, the last hour, the last minute had 
come. When God shut the door the day of grace was 
over; the day of mercy was ended. When once the 
master of the house is risen up and shut the door, there 
is no hope. You may cry for mercy then, but it is too late. 
A man ud that when he died, he would go to heaven 
and he would knock and ask for Mercy, and Mercy 
would let him in. A man said you need not ask for 
Mercy there; for Mercy has not been at home for eight- 
een hundred years. Mercy is abroad in the earth. It is 
too late to ask for mercy." This is the day of mercy. 
This is the day of grace. This is the acceptable time 
of the Lord. This is the day the door is wide open, 
God says, "Come in." God calls you in out ef the com- 
mg storm and out of the coming judgment 



272 come. 

I can imagine some of you say, "Moody, you don't 
believe there was such a thing as a flood, and God shut 
that door?" I believe it just as much as I believe that 
Tesus Christ came into this world. Listen to what the 
Son of God has to say: "As it was in the days of Noah, 
so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man; they 
were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in 
marriage, until the flood came and took th m all away." 
It came suddenly. Jesus Christ believed in the flood. 
But when once the Master of the house had risen up 
and shut the door, it was too late. 

Men say, "I can repent any time." Do not deceive 
yourself. There is such a thing as a man sinning 
away the day of grace. There is such a thing as a man 
going on rejecting and rejecting the Spirit of God, until 
the last hour and the last moment has come, and it is too 
late. 

Those antediluvians found it was too late. The door 
was shut. I don't know when the storm broke upon 
them. It might have been in the night. And what a 
night it was! Did this world ever witness such a night 
as that? 

I can imagine as the sun went down, little did they 
think it was the last time they were to look upon it, as it 
shone upon that ark and the door was closed. The day 
of grace was ended. The day of mercy was over, and 
there was no hope. Their doom was sealed. The dooi 
that shut Noah and his family in shut them out. Thai 
night, perhaps at midnight, they could hear in the dis- 
tance the thunder. The sound grew louder and louder, 
until the storm broke upon them. Perhaps the scoffers 
and the triflers in those days began to mock and say* 
"Well, now Noah will say this is his flood. Noah, now in 
the ark will begin to rejoice and say this is what he was 
telling us about." But by-and-by their mocking was all 



comx, 273 

gone. There could not be a scoffer found. And do you 
know there is a time coming when there cannot be a 
scoffer found on the face of the earth? There is a time 
coming when these men that are mocking at the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ will bow the knee to the Lord Jesus. 
They will cry — we have the prayer on record — "They 
will call upon the mountains and the rocks and the hills 
to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb." Their cry 
for mercy will be too late. 

I can imagine that the springs of the earth began to 
send forth the water. The springs began to bubble up, 
and the heavens were black with clouds, and they 
emptied their contents upon the earth, and the old earth 
reeled and tottered like a man under the influence of 
liquor, or it rocked like a cradle, and the foundations of the 
deep were broken up, and the sea had been held by its 
chains broke its bars and began to swell and to rise 
higher and higher. The people in the low lands said, 
" We will go to the higher lands and get on the moun- 
tain peaks." The wise men told them, probably there 
was no danger. And perhaps those in the high lands 
said, " There may be a freshet take those in the low lands, 
but we are perfectly safe." You can see them coming 
up from the low lands. You can see the vile reptiles 
and beasts coming up from their dens and caves — man and 
beast coming up the mountain side to escape from the 
deluge — children and parents. You can hear a wail 
going up from many. The flood rises higher and 
higher. By and by a father is washed away and a mother 
and a child, and you can see the dead bodies floating all 
around. That scene no tongue on earth can picture. 
Do you know that no man saw it? It was so horrible 
God would not permit even Noah to see it. He had that 
ark built so there were no windows to look out to see 
the flood. Only one window was made and thzt was 



274 ©omb. 

made i© look op towards the God of judgment There 
was not one solitary man left to tell the story. 

And the last man — think of the last man. All had 
been swept away but one solitary man, and he stands on 
yonder mountain peak and points to that ark of Noah's 
floating away safely upon the bosom of that water. I tell 
you my friends, that storm had not raged twenty-four 
hours before Noah's ark was worth more than all the 
world. Men looked upon it with scorn and contempt 
one day, and the next it was worth more than all the 
world. The time is coming when Jesus Christ will be 
worth more than ten thousand worlds like this. Jesus 
Christ is the ark that God has provided. Then, friends 
will you come into the ark or will you die outside of it? 
That is for you to settle. Men may cavil as much as 
they are a mind to and say they don't believe these things, 
but do you know the average life of man is only thirty- 
three years? It is very short. It is an inch of time 
and eternal ages roll on. It is but a shadow, a vapor and 
we are gone. Will you die inside of the ark or outside ? 
That is the question. Will you this night, father, come 
in and take your family in? It is the father's place to 
move in first. God addressed himself Noah, " Come 
thou and all thy house into the ark." And, if you have 
come in father and mother are your children in? I 
think we are living in a dark day. How we need our 
children under the wings of the Almighty! How they 
need his care and his protection. If God spared not the 
angels when they fell from their first estate and cast 
them out; if God spared not Adam, would not allow him 
to live in Eden, and turned him out; if God spared not 
those antediluvians and would not let them live; if God 
spared not the Jews and cut them off because they 
rejected Jesus Christ, and he became the sinner's substi- 
tute ? do you think he will spare you if you reject tins 



come. 275 

salvation aud reject this offer of mercy. The door of 
the ark stands open. God calls you in, " Come thou a&d 
all thy house." Move up towards the ark to-night 
Let there be a moving up to the ark to-night. Let us 
get in and then let the storm come. Death is busy sudden 
around us. Did you ever hear in your life of so many 
deaths as you have in the last few weeks? I never did. 
You cannot take up a paper hardly but you read that 
some man has gone; — went to bed well; found dead in 
his bed. Death is on your track and mine. It may be 
that I may be speaking to some one here to-night, who 
is spending his last year on earth. In a large assembly 
like this many will be gone. Inside of twelve months 
many of us will be gone. If it is your last year are you 
going to die inside the ark or outside? That is the 
question. 

I will get a little nearer home. Some of us are prob- 
ably spending our last month on earth. Before thirty 
days are gone some one may be picked out of this audi- 
ence. Is not the best thing we can do to get into the 
ark? The Lord bids us to come to Him now. This is 
the day of grace; this the day of mercy. This is the day 
when He is saying, in pity and love, " Come thou and 
all thy house into the ark." Mother, don't you want 
that little child in? Father, don't you want that son of 
yours in? Think of the darkness in the world. Think 
of the pitfalls. Think of the temptations. Think of the 
work of Satan — how he is deceiving and leading astray 
our children. Oh, may God help us all to come into the 
ark to-night I 



WHY HALT YE? 



You will find my text in the 18th chapter I. Kings 21 : 
"And Elijah came unto all the people and said, how 
long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, 
follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the peo- 
ple answered him not a word." He asked them a 
question that they were not willing to answer. I ven- 
ture to say if I should put that question to each one of 
you here to-night, a good many, if not half of this con- 
gregation would refuse to answer. I heard of a gentle- 
man here last night, who said he would like to ask me 
some questions. If that man is here to-night I would 
like to ask him a question. & How long halt ye between 
two opinions ? if the Lord be God, follow him ; if Baal, 
follow him?" It is a fair, square, practical thing, isn't it? 
If these things are true that are written here in this 
book, the quicker we find them out and believe them 
the better. It is certain we cannot serve God and Baal. 
That is out of the question. Another thing is certain, 
and that is we serve the one or the other. No man 
stands on neutral ground in this matter. "He that is not 
for me," says Christ, u is against me." A great many 
men take the ground that they are not on either side. 
That is out of the question. Some take the ground that 
they are on both sides. That is out of the question. If 
there is any one character above another that we detest 

— now, I am not talking about sinners; we love sinners, 

— if there is any one character that we detest above 
another it is the man who tries to be on both sides, who 

276 



WHY HALT YS? 277 

agrees exactly with the last man he meets. If yen 

make a statement, "Yes, those are my views exactly; 1 
agree with you, sir." A man comes along with just the 
opposite view — "Those are my views, exactly; yes." 

There is not a person in this house to-night but has a 
perfect dread of such people. You detest a character 
of that kind. During our war there were, in the border 
States, some of those people. They kept two flags. 
When the southern army came along they would run 
out the Confederate flag; then when the Northern army 
came along and they thought they were going to be in 
town some time, they would pull in the Southern flag 
and run out the Union flag, the star spangled banner. 
Do you know that those people suffered more than any 
other people. The Southern army would strip them of 
every thing they had, and if they hid any thing from the 
Southern army and accumulated anything, when the 
Union army came along it would strip them of every 
thing. Both armies detested them. We like to have 
men one thing or the other. You cannot serve God 
and mammon. You cannot have two masters in this 
matter. " He that is not for me is against me." 

Now, the question is to-night, whose side are you on ? 
I read of a king in ancient time who married a heathen 
wife. He wanted to please his wife, and so he put up 
two altars. One altar was to a heathen god, and on the 
other he tried to serve Jehovah. Do you think he did 
it? There is not a child in this audience but that knows 
very well he could not do it. 

Now I would like to press the question home upon 
you, who is your God to-night? If I understand it cor- 
rectly, the God of our soul is the one that we think the 
most of. Is it the god of pleasure? Is it the god of 
fashion? Is it the god of the world? Or is it the God 
of the bible — the God of Elijah? Now, it is Baal or 



278 WHY HALT YHf 

Jehovah. Which is it? I know men will try to dodge 
the question and say it is not either. But that is impos- 
sible. Christ has settled that question forever. You 
cannot serve God and mammon. 

Mark Antony, the great Roman general, yoked up 
two lions and used to drive them through the streets of 
Rome. But there are two lions we read of in this book 
that cannot be yoked together. They never go together. 
The lion of the tribe of Judah and the lion of hell will 
never be yoked together. You cannot serve the two. 
You cannot put them together. It is one or the other, 
and it is for you to settle which. God gives us that 
privilege. That is just where free agency comes in. 
You can have Baal or you can have the God of the bible. 
I believe to-night there is not perhaps one in this audi- 
ence but that means to decide some time; but it is so 
hard to get them to the point of decision. It is so hard 
to get them across that line. They halt one day too 
long. 

When there is a great question before us, we have 
really no peace until the question is settled. If we are 
unsettled on any very important subject, there is no real 
rest to our minds. There cannot be. Here is the great 
question of questions. I will venture to say that there is 
not any one in this church who will not admit that. We 
know very well that our life is too short. It is but a 
vapor; it is soon gone. If these things are true they 
are eternally true. They not only concern us in time, but 
they concern us in eternity. In a few days or months or 
years you and I will be gone. Life is ebbing fast away. 
The sands of time are running out. If the God of Elijah 
is true, then we certainly ought to know it, and follow 
him. 

Now, the men that have left the deepest foot-prints 
epon the shores of time have been men of decision, 



WHY HALT YS? 279 

Leave out the religious question. If they have been 
great rulers, they have been men of decision. Do you 
know why so many of our generals failed in the late war? 
They could not decide. They lacked decision of charac- 
ter, and at the very time they ought to have decided and 
pushed on to victory, they deferred and lost the victory. 

Some one asked Alexander how he conquered the 
world, and he said he conquered it by not delaying. If 
this question is going to be conquered we cannot delay. 
Many a man has come up to the line, and he has halted 
and wavered and delayed it until one day too late. He 
did not decide. 

You have a good deal more admiration for a man of 
decision than for a man that is vacillating. That is what 
we like about Daniel so much, What makes his charac- 
ter so beautiful ? It shines out upon the page of history 
to-night brighter than it did when he lived. He has been 
gone twenty-five hundred years, and yet his fragrance is 
throughout the whole world . When he went down to Bab- 
ylon, before he was twenty years old, he purposed in his 
heart whom he would serve, Those Chaldeans soon 
found out whose side he was on. He was a man of de- 
cision. It was that that made him so mighty and such a 
wonderful man. Many a young man comes up to Cleve- 
land from a country home, who has a vacillating char- 
acter, and he has not decision enough to do the right 
thing — to act up to his conscience. He is convinced in his 
mind he ought to do it, but he vacillates, and he halts, and 
he is influenced by the world around him, and he does not 
decide to do the right thing at the right time, Decision 
of character is what made Joseph so wonderful. It was 
that very thing that made Paul such a mighty man. 
When God called him he decided. He did not confer 
with flesh and blood. He did not stop to reason* God 
called him. That was enough. He decided. He leaped 



280 WHY HALT YI? 

into the race-course and leaped over the highway, right 
on up to glory — never stopped. Cold churches and false 
brethren, perils in the wilderness, chains, persecutions, 
stripes never stopped him. He was a man of decision. 
Oh, I would to God we had a thousand such men in this 
country to-day! That is what we want 

Look at that vacillating Balaam. In profession he 
would be a servant of the Most High God; but in prac- 
tice he bowed down to Baal, because he wanted the ap- 
plause of the world. Look at Agrippa — almost per- 
suaded; but he lacked moral courage to be altogether 
persuaded, such as Paul. Felix got so far as to tremble; 
but he said, "Go thy way for this time." He was not 
willing to decide then. And how many men since Felix 
have said, "Go thy way lor this time; I will decide this 
question some other time* 

Three years and a half before this thing occurred on 
Mount Carmel, Ahab, one day, was startled by a strange- 
appearing man. I don't know how he got by the guard 
at the door, into the presence of Ahab, but all at once Elijah 
stood there right before him, and the first thing he said 
was, "As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, there 
shall be neither dew nor rain until it comes by my word," 
and then fled. I suppose Ahab thought he was some 
lunatic If they had insane asylums in those days, he 
would probably have thought he had just come out of 
some asylum. He was strangely dressed. His garment 
was made of the 6kin of a camel. He had a leathern 
girdle around his loins. He might have had a staff in 
his hand. And away the man went. I will venture to 
say Ahab didn't believe a word he said; but the next 
morning there was no dew. They didn't have any beau- 
tiful fogs coming up, such as you and I see down in the 
valley of the Connecticut River Valley, moistening 
every thing. There was no fog, and there was no rain. 



WHY HALT YB? 281 

They looked. There was not a cloud as large as a man's 
hand to be seen for months. By-and-by the springs 
dried up, and the little brooks that came rippling down 
the mountain side, were all dry. At last there was s 
wail heard in the land, A famine was coming on. Now 
this king inquired, "Where is this man that came into 
my presence, and said there would be neither dew nor 
rain. We must find that man, Why, he has the keys 
of heaven." Search is made from one end of the land 
to the other, and they can't find him. Ahab then goes 
to the nations all around, and takes an oath from them 
that they have not this man hid away. A whole year 
passed and not a drop of dew; every thing is as dry as 
Gideon's fleece. 

The second year comes and no rain. The people be- 
gin to move off. Many of them move off into other 
lands, and there is great suffering from one end of the 
country to the other. 

The third year comes and there is neither dew nor 
rain. A half year more passes and at last Ahab says to 
Obadiah, " We must go and find something to keep our 
beasts alive; they are dying." It had reached the pal- 
ace now. The king began to suffer. And he says to 
Obadiah, " You go that way and I will go this, and we 
will see if we can't find grass for our beasts." They 
started. I don't know how far Obadiah had got from 
the palace—not a great ways — when whom should he 
meet but Elijah. The voice of God had come to Elijah 
up there in the other country, and told him to go and 
meet Ahab. What must have been that prophet's feel- 
ings as he passed over the line and passed into his own 
native country. Desolation was on all sides. There 
were the bones of animals bleaching on the mountain 
side; the streams all dried up; the earth all dried and 
cracked open. As he passed through every little vil- 



282 WHY HALT YMF 

lage he could see funeral processions bearing away their 
dead. Many had died while he had been gone. There 
was ruin and desolation from one end of the land to the 
other. He passed through the land a stranger. They 
did not know that he was the man that held the keys, 
the man they had been looking for so long. He comes 
up, and what must have been Obadiah's feelings when he 
saw him. He sees Elijah turn around the corner and he 
comes down the highway, and he cries out, " My Lord 
Elijah, art thou here? Is it possible you have come? 
Art thou here?" He says, "lam. Go and tell your 
master that I am here." Then he says, " What have I 
done that you want tobring ruin upon me? Have you 
not heard while you have been gone how I have taken 
care of the Lord's prophets — how I have hid them by 
fifties in caves to keep them so Jezebel would not mur- 
der them." " Yes, I heard all about it," says Elijah. 
" Go and tell the king I am here." Obadiah says, " If * 
I go and tell the king thou-art here, as soon as I am gone 
from thee the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither 
I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he 
cannot find thee, he shall slay me." Elijah says: " As 
the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will stand be- 
fore Ahab to-day." It is not very often subjects send 
for a king f you know. But Obadiah went, and he says 
to Ahab, " We have found Elijah." " What do you 
say? That prophet, that Tishbite? Have you found 
him? " " Yes." " Where is he? " « He is down the 
road." " Why didn't you bring him ?" " Why, he 
wouldn't come. He told me to come and bring you." 
" Well, I will go and see him ; I would like to see him." 
And he comes towards Elijah full of rage, nothing but 
malice in his heart, and he walks up to the prophet 
" Art thou the man that has been troubling Israel?" 
** No," says he. M I am not; you are the man, * Ahab 



WHY HAL.T YB? 283 

was not used to having people talk in that way to hins. 
44 1 am not the man; you are the man; it is you and your 
house; It is you and your iniquity; it is you and your sm; 
you have brought this ruin upon the country; I warned 
you. " Now," says he, " let us have this thing tested, 
and let us find out who is the God of Israel. You sum- 
mon Israel up on to Mount Carmel, and we will go up 
there and we will have the thing tested; we will find 
out who is the true God." And Ahab obeys him as if 
Elijah was king. Israel is summoned upon Mount Car- 
mel. Wl.ut must have been the feelings of Ahab's 
messengers as they went from village to village, from 
town to town, to tell the people to come up on Mount 
Carmel? When men's pockets are touched they are 
always excited, and now it is going to touch their pock- 
ets. If they can get rain they will not lose their land, 
and they can live. The whole country is excited and 
stirred. Talk about people not being excited 1 I will 
venture to say that country was as much excited as this 
country has ever been. Excitements are not bad some- 
times. I have known men to get terribly excited if 
corn went up five cents or cotton ten cents ; but if people 
would get worked up about their soul's salvation, " Oh, 
that is false excitement. That is wild-fire. You must 
be careful, now." I will venture to say that country 
was stirred from end to end when they heard Elijah had 
got back. 

And on the day appointed you can see the crowd mov- 
ing up towards Mount Carmel. They come from every 
town and village. The chief men of the nation are all 
there. Their leading men, their magistrates and their 
elders move up towards Mount Carmel, and at last you 
c&n see those eight hundred and fifty prophets, four hun- 
dred prophets of the grove and four hundred and fifty 
prophets of Baal. They move in solid column uj> thai 



284 WHY HALT YE? 

mountain side with their long flowing robes. It must 
have made a great impression on the people— eight hun- 
dred and fifty of them moving up toward Mount Car- 
mel. Not only that, but with that company of priests 
comes Ahab with his escort and his chariots. The influ- 
ence of the whole r^pi family was on the side of Baal. 
The whole nation, to t'he outward eye, had gone over to 
the service of Baal. They had backslidden and left the 
God of the Bible. They had left the God of Israel. 
They had left the God of the ir fathers. 

That is just what this nation is doing now. Many are 
going over to Baal. Many are now beginning to tear 
that book to pieces, and they are doubting whether God 
is true or not. They are in the balances, halting and 
wavering between two opinions. At last you can hear 
the people wondering if Elijah would be there. Where 
is he? They don't care so much about these prophets of 
Baal. They had seen them for these three years and a 
half. They had got quite well acquainted with them. 
But where is the prophet that had been holding the keys 
so long, and been keeping back the rain and the dew — 
this man that had such mighty power with God? Where 
is he? At last Elijah makes his appearance alone. He 
has no Ahab. He has no royal court around him. He 
wears no flowing robe. He has on the same eld coat 
made of camel's skin; a leather girdle around his loins, 
and his staff in his hand. He moves up that mountain 
like a giant Every eye is upon him. Talk about sen- 
sation! I venture to say there was a sensation when 
Elijah appeared. There was not any man asleep then. 
There was not a man asleep on Mount Carmel when he 
appeared. They were looking right at him. He came 
to the people, and he said, " How long halt ye between 
two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if 
Baal, then follow hi m." And the people answered him 



WHY HALT YX? 285 

not a word. "Now," says he, "let us have the thing 
decided to-day. Let the prophets of Baal build an altar 
right here, and then let them put a sacrifice on that altar 
and let them call upon their God, or Gods, and if their 
God answers by fire and consumes the sacrifice, then 
that settles the question* If their God don't and my 
God does, let Him be the God. The God that answers 
prayer. In other words, let Him be God. The God 
that answers by fire let Him be God." And the 
people said, u That is well said. That is very well put 
You could not do any better than that." And there 
were the priests. I don't think they thought it was go- 
ing to be put in that way, or else you would not have 
caught them there. But the people said: "It is well 
said." They built an altar, slew an animal, and put it 
on the altar; and about nine o'clock in the morning they 
began to cry to Baal to come and consume the sacrifice. 
And if the Lord had not withheld Satan, I don't know 
but they would have got a spark out of hell to kindle a 
fire and burn it up. But the Lord did withhold Satan. 
They did not have that power. And they cried, " O, 
Baal! O, Baal!" and they cried for three hours. You 
could hear their cry, probably, clear off to the sea* It 
was a very earnest meeting. People say it does not 
make any difference what a man believes if he is only 
sincere. They say you can believe in Baal as well 
as the God of the Bible, if you are only in earnest 
I never read of more sincere men in my life than those 
eight hundred and fifty men. They got so sincere that 
before noon they jumped on the altar and took knives 
and cut themselves until the blood just covered them 
from head to foot, and they cried at the top of their 
voices. About noon Elijah says, " Cry louder! Your 
god must be on a journey somewhere, or he has gone to 
deep! Cry louder!" Elijah might have said, u If your 



286 WHT HALT YB? 

god answers prayer, why didn't you call for rain while I 
was gone? If your god now will come and give you 
fire; I should have thought you would have called for 
water while I have been away. If your god answers 
prayer, why didn't you cry for rain? Why didn't you 
call for Baal to help you?" They prayed on till three 
o'clock in the afternoon — six long hours. I will venture 
to say they got so hoarse they could hardly speak to be 
heard. They halloed and yelled and cried to Baal, and 
no answer came* 

At three o'clock, the time of the evening sacrifice, 
Elijah says, u Now, I will build my altar." He would 
have nothing to do with Baal's altar. We just want to 
let Baal's altar alone. Keep away from it I He built an 
altar of his own. There is separation for you, on Mount 
Carmel. Elijah took stones and built his altar. He took 
twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes. He put on 
the wood and got every thing ready. He slew the beast 
and put it on the altar. 

Now, he is not going to have those men say that he 
had some fire concealed there. Says he, " Go and bring 
me four barrels of water." He dug a trench all around 
that altar. Says he, " Pour the water on." They did 
that u Bring on four barrels more," and they put on 
eight barrels. It ran all around the trench. " Bring on 
four more," and they put on twelve barrels of water, 
until the trench was fulL Every thing was all dripping 
with water. There is his dripping sacrifice. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon, the time of 
the evening service, Elijah drew near to the altar. Every 
eye is on him. There stand the elders of Israel. They 
are looking at him. Great things are at stake this after- 
noon. And now he does not call upon Baal, but he 
begins his prayer, " Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and 
of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in 



WHY HALT YBf 287 

Igrael, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done 
all these things at thy word, Hear me O, Lord, hear 
me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord 
God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again." 
He did not get any further than that; just commenced 
his prayer; had not prayed a minute, when lo! Look 
yonder! See! Fire coming down; it leaps on the altar, it 
burns up the sacrifice, it burns up the wood, burns up 
the stones, burns up the dust, licks up the water, and the 
people fall on their faces and cry, " The Lord, he is God. 
The God that answers prayer, he is God." My friends, 
Baal never answered a prayer yet You that are serving 
Baal never got one answer to prayer. The God of your 
mother, the God of that Bible — He answers prayer. 
Then Elijah prayed again, and he prayed that there 
might be rain ; and he sent his servant to see if there 
was any sign of rain. And the servant came back and said 
" There is no sign." He bowed his head on Carmel and 
prayed again, and sent his servant, and he came back 
and said, " There is no sign." He sent him seven times. 
When he came back the seventh time, he said he saw a 
little cloud about as big as a man's hand coming out ol 
the sea. And Elijah said, " Ahab, make haste and get 
home. You will get wet if you don't There is rain 
coming." He had got the heavens opened. What 
brought that cloud out of the sea? What brought the 
rain down ? Elijah's prayer. Elijah was a man of like 
passions with you and me. My friends what is a God 
good for that don't answer prayer? If you have a God 
that don't hear your cry when you have a son that has 
gone astray, what is that God good for? Baal don 5 t 
answer prayer. Why not turn back to the God of the 
Bible? Why not turn back to the God of Elijah? 

But I can imagine some of you say, " If I had lived 
in the days of Elijah, and had witnessed that scene, I 



288 WHY HALT YE? 

would have believed." Well, seven or eight hundred 
years after that, on another mountain, not far from Mount 
Carmel, a scene took place a good deal more wonderful 
than that which occurred on Mount Carmel. You and I 
live this side of Calvary. Those men did not have the 
light we have. I tell you the scene that took place at 
Mount Calvary is a thousand times more wonderful than 
the scene that took place at Mount Carmel. Look at 
the Son of God, going up that mountain hearing His 
own cross ; nailed to that cross to put away your sins 
and mine. When He perished on that cross His human- 
ity died. This earth shook. There was a terrible 
earthquake, and the rocks were rent, and the very dead 
came up out of their graves and went back to Jerusalem 
and mfct their friends. Jerusalem was filled with men 
that came up out of their graves with Him as trophies 
of His resurrection, as witnesses of the victory that He 
had won. Yes, not only the resurrection, but our Lord and 
Master has £one up on high, He has led captivity captive, 
He is at the right hand of God to-night, and He hears 
prayer. Wl*at more proof do we want? O, let this 
question be decided to-night. Let the God of your 
mother and the God of your father be your God. Let 
the God of Elijah be your God. Let us decide that we 
will follow him and that we will not follow Baal. Let 
the decision be rendered right here to-night. Look at 
that poor, vacillating Pilate that we were reading about 
to-night. He was convinced in judgment that Christ 
was true. His own treacherous heart told him that Jesus 
Christ was true. His own conscience told him that 
Christ was true, but he lacked moral courage to take his 
stand and decide for Jesus Christ, He perished for the want 
of decision. I believe hundreds and thousands are going 
down to eternal death just for the want of decision. They 
lack moral courage to decide this question. My friends, 

15 



WHY HALT YS? 289 

let it be decided right here to-night. Let k be 
decided now. Let us say, " to-night and this hour I will 
settle this question. If the God of Elijah is ready and 
willing to receive me I will come to him." He is, my 
friends. He has forever settled that question by giving 
Christ to die for us. Christ never would have come into 
this world and perished on the cross if he had not been 
willing to save perishing sinners. And now what you 
want is to let Him save you. Let Him save you here 
to-night. " Him that cometh unto me," He says, " I will 
in no wise cast out." He will not cast you out; but He 
will receive you this very night if you will come. 

Now, let me say, if that Bible is not true the quicker 
you and I find it out the better. If there is no God to 
condemn sin let us find it out. If there is no God to lift 
us up or cast us down let us find it out. Let us decide 
this question one way or the other, God or Baal. Let us 
not vacillate between two opinions. If Christianity is a 
myth and a farce, as some people tell us, let us take our 
Bibles and burn them. I tell you it is a farce to go on 
spending money for churches if this Bible is not true. 
Look at the money spent in building this church. Look 
at the money spent in publishing the bible and sending it 
to the nations of the earth. If it is not true let us come 
out like men and fight it. I have a great deal more 
respect for those atheists who come out and fight the 
bible and churches than I have for those people who 
pretend to be on both sides, who pretend to be friends 
of Christianity, and are all the time stabbing it in the 
dark. Let us be one thing or the other. I am in hopes 
of living to see the day that we are going to have Chris- 
tians and infidels out and out. Let the line be drawn. 
He that is for God let hirn take his stand. He that is 
against God let him take his stand. Let us know who 
they are. Let us have the line drawn. Let us not pro- 



290 WHY HALT YE? 

fess to be what we are not. If the bible is not true let 
us take it into the street and make a bonfire and burn it. 
If Christianity is not true, if it is a myth and a farce, let 
us bury it, and get upon the tomb and say, " there is no 
Christianity; theie is no heaven; there is no hell, there 
is no hereafter, it is all a fiction, it is all a delusion." If 
it is so, let us take our stand and let us build a monu- 
ment to Voltaire and Paine. Let us honor those men 
that have been fighting that book if it is a lie. But, if 
it is true, let us take our stand by it. Let us come out likt 
men and decide this question. Let us decide it at once 
You can decide it to-night if you will; and the quickei 
it is decided the better. You know if Satan can get you 
to put this thing off until to-morrow that is all he 
wants. 

I believe more men are lost in this country by delay- 
ing than from any other one thing. They mean to h** 
Christians some time. They mean to settle this qtiestiou 
some time ; but they say;' M Not to-night. Not to-day. 
To-morrow." To-morrow! To-morrow! To-morrow! 
Satan knows very well that to-morrow never comes, 
and if this questson is ever going to be decided, we have 
got to decide it in the light we have now. Behold, now 
is the accepted time, and now, right here to-night, this 
7th day of November, 1879, is the day of salvation witn 
you. 

I remember one night in Chicago — I had been preach- 
ing upon the life of Jesus Christ for five Sunday nights 
in a large hall that had been built down in the heart of 
the city; I had taken Him from his cradle and had gone 
right along toward the grave with him; and the fifth 
Sunday night I had got Christ into the hands of Filate, 
and I gave that audience one week to decide what they 
would do with Him. I have made some mistakes in my 
life. I consider that one of the greatest. I would just 



WHY HALT YE? 2*1 

as soon to-night give that right hand as to stand up here 
and say to you what I said to that audience. I said, 
" Now, we want you to take this question home with 
you. We want to have you decide what you will do 
with God's Son." I gave them Pilate's question, " What 
then shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ?" 
Pilate had Him on his hands, and he had to decide the 
question. The world has God's Son on its hands, and 
you have got to decide what you will do with him. 
You have either got to say, " Crucify Him ! Crucify 
Him!" or receive him — one thing or the other. I said 
to this audience, " Now, I want you to decide it in the 
course of the week, and next Sunday night I want to have 
you come and let us know what you will do with God's 
Son." I closed that meeting, and while I was closing it 
a bell began to strike within half a block. When I heard 
that church-bell to-night I wondered if it was a fire-bell. 
The great city bell tolled out, you might say, the death 
knell of Chicago that night. It sounded out a general 
alarm. I paid no attention to it. That is quite common 
in Chicago. And while I was giving those people a 
week to decide that question, Chicago was burning up; 
and before twelve o'clock that hall was in ashes; before 
two o'clock the church where I worshiped was in ashes; 
before three o'clock the house that I lived in was in ashes; 
and inside of forty-eight hours from that time a hundred 
thousand people were burned out of house and home. 
It was estimated that a thousand people burned alive that 
night; and right around that hall a good many perished. 
One man crawled into a great water-pipe for refuge and 
roasted alive. I don't know but that very man heard me 
that night when I gave that audience a week to decide 
that question. I never have met them since, probably 
never will on the shores of time. And do you know 
the last hymn that Mr. Sankey sung that night was 



292 WHY HALT YI? 

M To-day the Savior calls; 
For refuge fly. 
The storm of vengeance falls 
And death is nigh." 

It was almost prophetic. His never was heard in that 
hall again. We never met on that platform since. You 
say, "I have time enough to decide this." We separate 
now. This is the last time, perhaps, my voice will ever 
be heard in this church. Just before we close, take a 
look round. See how that choir looks. Take a look at 
these ministers sitting on this platform. See how this 
audience looks. We break up in a few minutes, and we 
shall never meet again this side of eternity. Shall we 
meet there at the right hand of God ? That is the ques- 
tion. You can decide it to-night. You can set 
your faces like a flint toward heaven. You can 
settle this question, if you will. But if not, if 
you reject the Son of God, and go down to the dark 
caverns of eternal death, I ^believe you will remembei 
this night You will remember how this audience 
looked. You will remember these ministers on this 
platform praying for you. Their hearts have been going 
up to God while I have been preaching. I have heard 
their sighs. You are here among friends; a praying 
circle, perhaps, all around you; their silent prayers going 
up to God that you may decide this question. Dear 
friends, I want to leave it with you. What will you do 
with Jesus? Will you accept him, or reject him? Will 
you say with the Jews, " Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" 
or will you say, " Come into this heart to-night and 
dwell with me?" Come, young man, what will you do 
with this question to-night? How long halt ye between 
two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him; but if 
Baal, then follow him. Let the decision be made to- 
night. Let the news go up on high that you will take 
Jesus Christ as your Savior. 



SON, REMEMBER. 

Son, Remember. Luke xvi. 25. 

There is just one thing that this man that we have 
read of to-night in this chapter took away with him, 
and that was his memory. I think it teaches us that 
memory is immortal; that we are going to take memory 
with us into another world. We often hear that passage 
of scripture quoted about the books being open. I think 
that the u books " we read of are the books of memory. 
I do not know how a man is to give an account unless it 
is from memory. We read that every man shall give 
an account, and if he is going to give an account, if his 
account has not been blotted out by the blood of Christ 
— if he has to give an account of his record, how is he 
going to do it unless he does it from memory? Lord 
Bacon says that there is no thought that ever passed into 
our minds that really is forgotten. We may think we 
have forgotten it; it may have passed, as we say, from 
memory, but the time is coming when it will come back 
again. I believe that memory is " the worm that dieth 
not" that we read of in the scripture. 

We hear people talk about certain men having won- 
derful memories. I was reading to-night of a man that 
had a wonderful memory. It is said of Cyrus, the Per- 
sian general, that he had such a memory that he could 
call by name all the private soldiers in his army. I have 
read of a literary man that could repeat everything that he 
had ever written. Some of us complain about our short 
memories, but I think memory will be long enoueh 
when God says, "Son. remember!" When conscience 

293 



294 *ON, REMEMBER, 

is thoroughly aroused and we are thoroughly awake, 
then we cannot help but remember. Memory will do its 
work. Memory is God's officer, and when God touches 
the secret spring and says, " Son, daughter, remember," 
tramp, tramp, tramp will go the whole life before us. 
Men may plunge into the world, and into amusements ; 
men may drink and drown their consciences, and drown 
memory; but the time is coming when we cannot 
forget; the time is coming when memory will do its 
work, and we cannot for a moment forget the past. We 
talk about the recording angel that is keeping men's 
records. I think every man is keeping his own record; 
we are writing up our own biography. God makes 
every man and every woman keep his own records. 
And each one of us to-day has been writing his own 
record. Day after day that record is being written. 
Some men are very anxious that their biography should 
be written, but every man is writing his own biography. 
He don't need any one else to write it. The time is com- 
ing when God will just change his countenance and send 
him away and tell hirn to go and read his own record ; 
read his own life. I don't believe that God is going to 
condemn us; I think we will condemn ourselves. We 
will not need any one to condemn us; our own record 
will condemn us. 

That man that we read of that was at the wedding 
feast was speechless. Men talk now very fluently and 
flippantly about their sins and their life record, but the 
time is coming when God shall say, " Son, daughter, 
remember!" and they will be speechless. There will 
be no apology for the past; no amount of tears and 
prayers can wipe out the past. Man may forgive him- 
self and have a good opinion of himself, and say that his 
record is all right, but that don't help the reeord after all. 
It is there. It is written, as it were, with a pen of iron. 



SON, REMEMBER. 



295 



I have been twice at the point of death. I was once 
drowning. I had gone down for the second time, and 
was just going down for the third time, and was proba- 
bly within a few minutes of eternity. Although I have 
never been able to explain it, and I can't understand it 
to-day, in the twinkling of an eye, in a second of time, 
every thing that I had done, every thing that I had said, 
every thing that I had thought from the cradle up came 
flashing into my mind; my whole life came before me. 
How all my life could be crowded into a second of time 
I don't understand. It is gone and I can't recall it again 
at the present time. I have not any doubt that when 
the time comes, and God says, " Son, remember," it will 
all come back again. 

There was a man a few years ago in one of our insane 
asylums, walking up and down in the mad house and his 
cry was « If I only had," " If I only had." That was 
his cry from morning to night in all his wakeful hours. 
His story was this : He was employed by a railroad com- 
pany to take care of a swing-bridge, and he got a 
dispatch from the Superintendent that an extra train was 
going to pass over the road and not to turn the bridge until 
the train had passed. One alter another came and tried 
to have him open that swing-bridge, and he refused to 
do it. At last a friend came and over-persauded him, and 
he opened the bridge. He had no more than got it 
open before he heard the train coming. There was not 
time enough to close it, and he saw that train leap with 
all its living freight into that abyss of death. His reason 
reeled and tottered upon its throne, and the man went 
mad. His cry was, u If I only had! If I only had!" 
I cannot but believe to-night that there is many a man 
in the other world whose cry is " If I only had ! If I 
only hadl" Memory is at work. They have taken 



296 *ON, REMEMBER, 

their memories with them. This is clearly taught in 
this passage that we have here. 

I have been very much interested in reading the papers 
during the past forty-eight hours. There is one man away 
across the sea that my heart aches for. He is a stranger 
to me. When I took up the papers and read about that 
man's confession across the sea — how he confessed that 
he killed a man in Cleveland in 1872, my mind went 
over those six years and I said : " How much has that man 
suffered during the past six years." Memory had done 
its work. He covered up the sin. He thought it was 
concealed. He thought it would never come to light. 
Six years and upward have rolled away, and the thing 
has not been brought to light; but at last his own con- 
science, if the report is true, has turned witness against 
him. 

You very often take up the papers and you read, 
" Murder will out." What does that mean ? Memory 
has become aroused. There is a man sitting on this 
platform to-night that was telling me this afternoon of a 
case right here in Cleveland of a man he went to visit 
in the jail. He was there awaiting his trial. He was 
accused of murder; but hardly any one believed that he 
was guilty. But in that cell he confessed to this minister 
that is on this platform that he had done the deed; and 
when this minister went out and told his friends, they 
said it was impossible ; he could not have done it. He 
went back, and the man told him he did the deed and 
explained how he did it; and the reason that he made 
that confession was; he said he wanted to get away 
from himself. That is it. He wanted to get away from 
himself. That means that he wanted to get away from 
that past record. It was black; it was dark; it was vile. 
How it is that men dare to sin, and laugh at sin, and 
mock at sin, with eternity opening up before them, is one 



SON, REMEMBER. 297 

of the greatest mysteries of the day. They talk *b#ut 

the mystery of godliness, but that men will trifle with 
sin, and mock and laugh at sin, is a greater mystery. 

It was not long ago that I read in the paper of a 
deacon who was on his way to church to worship; and 
a young man came out of a drinking saloon, mounted 
his horse and rode up to the deacon, and said to him, " Can 
you tell me how far it is to hell ? " in a sneeriug, scoffing 
way. The deacon felt it so keenly he did not answer. 
The man rode on, turned the corner and went out of 
sight. But when the deacon came to turn that corner 
he found that the young man had only gone a few rods 
around the corner. The horse had thrown him and he 
had gone into eternity. 

O, how men mock at hell! How men mock at God! 
It is a mystery to me. " Son," God says " Remember," 
O, that memory may do its work to-night — that our 
consciences may be thoroughly aroused! 

I want to ask this congregation one question. Do 
you believe that Cain has forgotten that sin that occurred 
outside of Eden ? Do you believe that Cain has forgotten 
that cry of Abel? Do you believe that all these six 
thousand years Cain has forgotten how Abel looked 
when he plead with him not to take his life? Do you 
believe that Cain has forgotten that cry that came from 
that brother that loved him to spare his life ? Do you 
believe that Cain has forgotten how the first murdered 
man looked? Do you believe he has forgotten how that 
human blood looked? These six thousand years have 
rolled away, and I believe that Cain has not forgotten it 
He has taken memory into the other world with him. 

Do you believe those antediluvians have forgotten 
now Noah plead with them, and when he preached 
righteousness now they mocked and scoffed and ridi- 
culed? 



298 S^N f REMEMBER. 

Do you believe Judas has forgotten all these long 
years how Christ looked at him when he said, "Judas, 
betrayest thou the Master with a kiss?" I believe that is 
what makes hell terrible to Judas. He can remember 
the words of the Lord Jesus. He can remember how 
Christ looked at him. He can remember the kindness 
and love he had received from that loving Savior. 

You go down here to yonder piison and ask those 
men in the cells of that prison what makes that prison 
so terrible to them, and they will not tell you it is the 
narrow walls; they will not tell you it is those iron 
grates; they will not tell you that it is because that they 
are deprived of their liberty ; they will not tell you that it 
is the prison garb and prison food. That is not what 
makes prison life so terrible. It is memory. It is 
memory! I preached seven month to the prisoners in 
the Maryland penitentiary, and I talked with a great 
many of them. A number of them told me that what 
made life so terrible there Jwas memory. Their minds 
went back to their early childhood ; they remembered 
their loving parents ; they remembered their home, and 
they remembered what they might have been — how 
their hopes and prospects in life were all blasted. That 
is what makes prison life so terrible to these men. And 
what makes life so bitter to many in this assembly ? It is 
the record that is behind thern. They try to drown it. 
They try to forget it. But, my friends the time is coming 
when God will say, " Son, remember." And you can't 
get away from that record. You can't get away 
from memory. It will live. You may be very forget- 
ful now. I may be talking to some libertine in this 
house to-night that has ruined some fair young lady, like 
the one we read of in Cincinnati. He may go on un- 
punished. He laughs at the law. The lawcan't touch 
him. But bear in mind there is a God sits there in 



SON, RIMIMBRR, 299 

heaven-—- a God of equity, a God of justiee; $m& ¥y ai&$ 
by he will say to that young man, " Remember how 
you blasted the life of one that was fair and beautiful, 
how you led her from the path of virtue and purity ;" 
and God will bring him into judgment, " Son, remem- 
ber." You may go on in your pleasure; you may go 
on in your amusements, laughing and scoffing at God 
and the bible; but there is a God in the heavens and 
his eye is going to and fro through the earth, and he 
marks the man of iniquity. Don't think for a moment 
these things can be covered up, and that they will not 
overtake you. " Be sure your sin will find you out." 

I was reading not more than a month ago of a man 
in your neighboring state of Pennsylvania. In 1866 
there were two men that had a falling out at a dance, 
and soon after one of them was missing. Search was 
made, and he could not be found. A number of years 
after the one that survived him went mad, and he went 
up into a mining district where there was a shaft down 
in the earth, and as he would look at that shaft he 
would cry, " There! There! There he goes! See him!" 
And they took him to the mad house and locked him 
up, and he died. A little while ago they found the 
skeleton of a man down in that pit, and it is supposed 
that he pushed him in. Memory began to do ks work 
and it drove the man mad. Don't think that you 
can go on sinning day after day, that it is a light matter 
that God is not going to bring you into judgment It is 
a terrible thing. Sin is an awful thing. The longer I 
live the more I am convinced that we do not preach 
against sin enough. May God help us, as ministers of 
the Gospel, to preach against sin that is marring so many 
lives, that is blasting so many bright prospects, that is 
taking the fairest young men that we have to-day into 
ciime, that k going to make their lives dark and bitter ? 



300 SON, REMEMBER 

and that is going to make them curse the day that they 
were born. They laugh at us now when we warn them. 
They mock and they ridicule. But young man, I 
tell you to-night as a friend, if you take warning 
you will thank us for warning you, and if you take not 
warning to-night, but go on in your sin, you will regret 
this night. You will regret it. The time is not far 
distant. In some unguarded moment, perhaps in some 
drunken spree, you may commit an act that will blast 
your life for time and eternity. You may not intend to 
do it, but when Satan has possesion of a man how he 
leads them on from step to step until he has ruined him! 
And I want to say to you men and you women who are 
out of Christ that it is very easy for you to come here 
into this tabernacle to-night and sit here and ridicule and 
make light of every thing that you hear. You may 
listen to the sermon, but in a few minutes after this 
sermon is preached and you get up and go out you can 
laugh at and ridicule every, thing you have heard. To 
me one of the most painful things that I have to endure 
is after a solemn meeeting, when it seems as if God 
Almighty is in our mid^t, as if God was just at work, to 
go out and to hear the levity and the jokes, and to hear 
people laughing away the impression. O, may God 
impress us to-night for eternity! May the work be deep 
and thorough, so that we cannot get the arrow out of our 
hearts! I want to say to you that have friends that love 
you, friends that pray for you, and friends that care for 
your eternal welfare — treat them kindly. You will not 
have them with you in the other world. There will be 
no Savior in that world you are going to. There will 
be no praying mother that will plead for you and plead 
with you, and pray for you. There will no praying 
mothers there. There will be no godly, praying, sainted 
wives in that world you are hastening to. You may 



SON, REMEMBSH 301 

make light of them here. You may mock at their 
pra} ers and ridicule all their offers of mercy, but bear 
in mind there will be no godly, praying wife in that 
world you are going to; no Savior coming to offer you 
ealvation; knocking at the door of your heart for 
admittance. He does not pass that way. You may 
come here and hear that beautiful hymn. "Jesus of 
Nazai eth Passeth By." But He does not pass that way. 
You may hear this beautiful hymn, "Waiting and 
Watching," and you may know that now you have an 
oppoitunity to join that heavenly throng, but the time 
is coming when that gulf will be fixed, and there will 
be no such thing as your meeting those loved ones that 
have gone into that world of light and love and joy. 
Yes, it is a solemn thing to come into a place like this, 
and to have Christ offered to you, and the claims of the 
Gospel pressed upon you, and you are urged to accept 
salvation and you reject it. 

I remember a few years ago in one of our meetings in 
Chicago the Spirit of God was at work. There were 
some inquiring the way of life, and there was a man in 
the a&sembly I had been anxious for for a great many 
months, and when I asked all those who w r ould like to 
become Christians to rise, this man rose. My heart 
leaped in me for joy, and when the meeting was over I 
went to him, took him by the hand and said to him, 
"well, now you are coming out for Christ, ain't you?" 
" Well," said he, " Mr. Moody, I want to be a Christian, 
but there is one thing that stands in my way." " What 
it that?" "Well," says he, "I have not the moral 
courage " — and I believe in my soul to-night that is the 
thing that is keeping men from coming to Christ more 
than any other one thing. They lack the moral courage 
to come out from their scoffing, sneering friends. "Well," 
I said, " if heaven is what it is represented to be t it is 



302 SON, REMEMBER. 

jirely worth your coming out and confessing Christ, 
and being laughed at for a little while down here." He 
dropped his head and said, " I know it, I believe it, 
but " — naming a certain friend of his — " if he had been 
here to-night I should not have risen, I looked around to 
see if he was here, and when I found he was not I rose 
for prayers. I am afraid if I meet him, and he finds out 
I have risen, he will laugh at me, and I will not have 
the courage to stand up for what is right; and I know I 
can not be a Christian unless I deny myself, and take up 
my cross and come out" I said, " you are quite right." 
The poor man was trembling from head to foot. I 
thought surely he would come out on the Lord's side. 
Like Agrippa, he was almost persuaded. I thought 
surely that night he would settle the question, perhaps 
in his own home, and the next night I would find him 
rejoicing in the Savior. But he came back the next 
night, and I found he was in the same state of mind. 
The Spirit was still striving with him. He was almost 
persuaded, but not altogether. The next night he came 
again, and I found him in the same state of mind. And 
the only thing that man gave as an excuse for not be- 
coming a Christian, was that he had not the moral 
courage. 

John Bunyan describes one coming up to the gate of 
heaven— and there was a side way down to the gate of the 
pit, and many of them took that side way. It seems this 
man came to the gate of heaven and one step more would 
have taken him across the line. But this man-fearing 
spirit kept him from taking that step. Almost, yet not 
altogether. Well, weeks rolled away and the impres- 
sion seemed to pass away. You know that is me thing 
they bring against these special meetings. They say it 
hardens some people, That is quite right. The gospel 
proves a savor of life unto life, or a savor of 

16 



SON, REMEMBER. 303 

ath. Every time you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ 
preached, and Christ is offered to you, and you reject 
him, the hardening process is going on. Every time you 
turn your back upon this offer, your heart is becoming 
hard. Many a man in this congregation would have 
been impressed ten years ago by a sermon which makes 
no impression on him now. The hardening process has 
been going on. They have become not only neglectors 
of salvation, but they dispise it They not only refuse 
it but they despise the God of salvation. Well, the 
hardening process went on with this man. He used to 
come to church every Sunday morning, but now he 
dropped off and did not come at all. He would be at 
work Sunday, and if I met him coming down the street 
he would slip off down some other way, ashamed to 
meet me, afraid I would talk with him. At last he was 
taken sick and sent for me. I went to see him and he 
said to me, " Is there any hope for a man to be saved at 
the eleventh hour?" I told him there was hope for any 
man who really wanted to become a Christian. I 
preached Christ to him — explained to him the way of life 
— told him how he could be saved. I went down to see him 
day after day. Contrary to all expectations the man 
began to recover. When he got up from that sick bed, 
I went down one day and found him convalescent, sitting 
in front of his house. I took my seat beside him and 
said, " Well, now you will be well enough to come up 
to church in a few days, and when you are well enough 
you are coming out to confess Christ and take your 
stand for Christ." u Well," says he, " I have made up 
my mind to become a Christian, but I am not going to 
become one just now. Next spring I am going over 
Lake Michigan and I am going to buy me a farm and 
settle down, and then I am going to become a Christian; 
but there is no use of my talking of becoming a Chris- 



304 SON, REMEMBER. 

tian here in Chicago, I can't do it. I have so many 
bad associates I can't live a Christian life in Chicago." 
" Well, 5 ' I said, " my friend, if God hasn't got grace 
enough to keep you in Chicago, He hasn't got enough 
to keep you in Michigan. What you want is not a 
change of associates, but a new heart, and the grace of 
God to keep you. He is able to keep you." I plead 
with him not to postpone this great question any longer. 
I tried to arouse him up. At last he got a little worried 
and a little cross at me, and says, " Mr. Moody, you can 
just attend to your own business, and I will attend to 
mine. I don't want you to trouble yourself any more 
about my soul. I will attend to that." I said " you 
can't afford to put this thing off." " Well," he says, " if 
I am lost it will not be your fault. You have done 
every thing you can. I don't want you to trouble your- 
self any more." When I hear people say in these meet- 
ings, " I don't want you to trouble me," it sends a pang 
into my heart — when we try to do you good and bring 
you a blessing, to have you to turn your back and say, 
" I don't want Christ. I have no desire for Him." 

This man said, " I will take the risk." I was telling 
him he could not afford to take the risk, he said, " I will 
take it." I would like to ask if there is a man in this 
house to-night that will take the risk of his soul's salva- 
tion for twenty-four hours. Dare you say, " I will take 
it?" It was a number of months he was going to take 
it. When he got over to Michigan on his farm and got 
settled down, he was going to become a Christian. I 
tried to arouse him; he got angry and I left him. If 
ever I left a man with a sad heart it was when I left that 
man. I remember the day of the week. It was Friday. 
It was about noon that I left him. Just a week from 
that day I got a message from his wife. She wanted to 
have me come in great haste. I went to the Louse and 



SON, REMEMBER, 305 

I met her at the door weeping, I said, " What is the 
trouble?" "My husband has been taken down with 
the same disease. We have just had a council of physi- 
cians and they have all given hirn up to die." 

I said, " does he want to see me," knowing how angry 
he was only the week before, She said, M No. I asked 
him if I should not send for you, and he said no, he did 
not want to see you." " Well, why did you send ? " 
44 Well, I can't bear to see him die in this terrible state 
of mind." " What is his state of mnd ? " " He says 
his damnation is sealed, and that he will be in hell in a 
little while." I went into the room where he was, and 
the moment he heard the door open he looked and saw 
who it was, and he turned his face to the wall. I went 
to the bed and spoke to him, and he did not answer. I 
said, " Won't you speak to me? " I went around to the 
foot of the bed where I could look at him, and said 
again, " Won't you speak to me? " He turned and look- 
ed at me — and what a look it was ! He said, " You 
need not talk to me any more, sir. My damnation is 
sealed. There is no hope for me." I tried to tell him 
there was, but he ridiculed the idea that there was any 
hope for him. Memory had begun to do its work. His 
whole life came up before him, and he said, " I have 
done nothing but sin against God all my life; and a week 
ago when you were here and I thought I was going to 
get well, I turned away from God. He came knocking 
at the door of my heart. I told Him, if He would spare 
my life, I would let Him in. And He took me at my 
word. But the moment I got up I turned my back up- 
on Him. There is no hope for me. You need not talk 
to me. You need not pray for me. You cannot save 
me, sir. There is no hope for me, I have got to die in 
my sins. There is no chance for my soul," I tried to 
tell him there was, H@ pointed his finger at the stove 



306 SON, REMEMBBR. 

and said, " My heart is as hard as the iron in that stove. 
There is no hope for me." I went to get down on my 
knees, and when he saw me kneel he said, " Mr, Moody, 
you need not pray for me. You can pray for my wife 
and children. They need your prayers and sympathies. 
You need not spend your time praying for me. There 
is no hope for me." I tried to pray for him, but it seem- 
ed as if my praj^ers did not go higher than my head. 
I got up and took his hand, and it seemed as if I was 
bidding farewell to a friend that I never would see again 
in time or eternity. The cold, clammy sweat of night 
was gathering on that hand. I bade him a final fare 
well. I left his house about noon. He lingered until 
the sun went down behind those western prairies, and 
his wife told me that from the time I left him until he 
died, all she heard was, " The harvest is past, the sum- 
mer is ended, and I am not saved." You could hear 
his cries all over the house. Just as the sun was going 
down, he was sinking away into the arms of death, and 
his wife noticed his lips quivering. He was trying to 
say something. She bent over and all she could hear 
was that awful lamentation of the prophet, " The har- 
vest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved," 
and he passed away. He lived a Christless life; he died 
a Christless death; we wrapped him in a Christless 
shroud and laid him in a Christless coffin. How dark! 
How sad! The sin of procrastination! 

O, my friends, this night be wise. Ask God this 
night and this hour to forgive you. Make up your minds 
that you will this night settle this question for time and 
eternity* 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 



THE SERMON. 

You will find my text this evening in the sixth chapter 
of Galatians, the seventh and eighth verses: "Be not 
deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to 
his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that 
soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life 
everlasting." 

When Mr. Sankey was singing that hymn to-night 
about sowing the seed, I thought of a meeting we had 
in Chicago three years ago this month. There was a 
poor man came into that meeting discouraged, disheart- 
ened. He had run away from his friends in the hope 
that he might come to Chicago and die in the gutter. 
He had given up all hope of becoming a sober man. He 
was the son of a good man, he was the husband of a 
lovely wife; he was the father of two beautiful daughters. 
But he had become such a slave to strong drink that he 
had given up all hope. That night he came into the 
Tabernacle because it was cold and he wanted to get 
into a warm place. He went up into the gallery and 
got behind a post, and he said, as the people came in 
well dressed and looking so happy, he looked down upon 
them and gnashed his teeth, and cursed the day that he 
was born. At last Mr. Sankey struck up that hymn, 
" Sowing the Seed." The man said he did not take any 
interest in the singing until he came to the third verse, 
and that was the verse that reached him. And when 

307 



308 BE NOT DECEIVED, 

Mr. Sankey was singing to-night I was in hopes it would 
reach some one else. Let me read you the verse that 
God used to rouse that man. 

** Sowing the seed oi a lingering pain, 
Sowing the seed of a madd«ned brain, 
Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, 
Sowing the seed of eternal shame ! 
O, what shall the harrest be?" 

Three years have rolled away. One of the most effi- 
cient workers to-day in Chicago is that man. I have 
seen him move an audience as I think I never saw an 
audience moved. God reached very low when he 
picked him up. His wife and children are with him 
now — a happy home. I hope God will arouse ^>sie 
one here to-night I hope there will be soiae one 
aroused to-night by the Spirit of God. And I vant to 
say to you Christians that if you pray and are looking 
right up to God for power to-night there may be some 
one convicted. The sermorvis not going to convict any- 
one. It is the Spirit of God that convicts men of sin. 
Man has not the power to rouse men. He can speak to 
the outward ear, but God h s got to speak to the ear of 
the soul. God has got to make these dead souls live. 
What we want is the Holy Ghost power here to-night. 

I remember the first time I ever preached from that 
text was in the city of Boston. I commenced, " Be not 
deceived," and I pointed down in the audience and said, 
" Young man," * be not deceived ! ' " and a man had 
been coming there for two weeks — he had just come, he 
said, out of curiosity. He had lost all hope. He was a 
poor prodigal turned out of his own home, and a wan- 
derer in the city of Boston. But God had just used these 
words, " Be not deceived," and he waked up to the fact 
that he had been deceived. From his childhood all along 
up he had been deceived, and that young man became 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 309 

a Christian, and when I was at Cooper Institute two 
weeks ago to-night, I found him clothed and in his right 
mind. He had been working for Jesus Christ all these 
months, and now he is a very efficient worker. 

My friends, let us pray to-night that the text may do 
its work. The sermon is of very little account after all. 
It is the text we want. The sermon is just to drive the 
nail. And now, never mind the sermon, but pray God 
to carry the text down into the hearts of the people. 
Infidels and skeptics tell us the word is not true; but 
who can deny that text, " Be not deceived ; God is not 
mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
reat>." We can see that all about us. A man is doubly 
bn;*d that cannot see that fulfilled every day. These 
grry-haired men know that; they have lived long enough 
to see men reaping to-day what they haye sown. " Be 
not deceived!" It is a decree of high heaven that a 
man must reap what he sows. These farmers, when 
they sow, expect to reap. A man learns a trade. He is 
learning that trade because he expects to reap, by and 
by a harvest. A man that is toiling hard to get a pro- 
fession — you take some of these lawyers that have toiled 
for ten or fifteen years; they expect to reap by and by a 
harvest. They expect it. That is what they are sow- 
ing for. You take some of these medical men; they 
commence practice, and they have hard work for years 
to get a-going; and some people say, " Why don't you 
give it up?" "Why," they say, "I expect to reap by 
and by." They are looking forward to the reaping 
time. They are just laying the foundation — sowing the 
seed, but they^ say, " I expect to reap by and by." 

Then there is another thing. A man expects to reap 
the same kind of seed that he sows. " Whatsoever a 
man soweth that shall he also reap." If a man sows 
wheat he does not look for watermelons. If a man 



310 *K NOT DECEIVED. 

plants potatoes he does not look for grapes; he expects 
to dig potatoes. If he sows wheat he looks for wheat ; 
he does not look for oats; he does not look for anything 
else but wheat He expects to reap the same kind of 
seed that he sows. 

Well, now, that is true in the natural world, and, my 
friends, it is true in the spiritual world. A young man 
says in a flippant, fluent way, that he is just sowing his 
wild oats; he is a young man. He forgets that it is a 
decree of high heaven that he has got to reap those wild 
oats. It is no laughing matter. It is astonishing just to 
see men hold their heads up with a scorning look and 
say, " Oh, well, we are young men now, and you know 
we must have our time sowing our wild oats. We must 
have a little of the world and see a little of its pleasures;" 
but they seem to forget that if they sow to the wind 
they must reap the whirlwind. 

And you will find that this runs all through life. You 
let me be a deceitful man arid let me deceive others, and 
I will be paid back in my own coin — others will deceive 
me. You let me teach my children to disobey God, and 
they will turn around and disobey me. Many a man 
aas got a broken heart because he taught his children to 
be disloyal to God, and they have turned around and 
been disloyal to him. God knows that, and He tells us 
to train our children to honor Him so they may honor 
us in our old age. I have a case in my mind now where 
a man reaped just the same kind of seed that he sowed. 
He was a wealthy man. He was what the world would 
call a prosperous man. He had a good bar, and right 
near him lived a widow with an only son, and that son 
was enticed into that place night after night, and at last 
he came home drunk. When the widow waked up to 
the fact that her only son was becoming a drunkard she 
went to that rum seller and begged hixr not to sell her 



BS NOT DECEIVED. 311 

boy any more liquor; and he told her to mind her own 
business, and he would mind his; that he would sell to 
whom he pleased; he had a license, and he would go on 
selling. And he did continue selling to that boy until at 
last he went down to a drunkard's grave; and that gray- 
haired mother is now tottering upon the brink of the 
grave with a broken heart. But it was not five years 
before that rum seller's only son, in a drunken spree, put 
a revolver to his head and blew out his own brains; and 
that father went down to his grave with a broken heart, 
He had to reap just what he sowed. If I sell anothei 
mam's son rum and ruin him, some one will ruin my boy. 
That is a decree of heaven. You cannot get around it 
It is madness for a man to shut his eyes to these facts. 
You can close up the Bible and see this constantly carried 
out 

I remember reading in history that in the days of 
Louis XI., he had a cruel, wicked bishop that was perse- 
cuting some of the saints of the Most High God; and 
the king wanted to know how he could make their pun- 
ishment more cruel and bitter. " Well," said the bishop, 
w make them a cage, and have it so short and narrow 
they cannot lie down, and so low they cannot stand 
straight, and they will have to be in a bent position all 
the while." The king ordered the cage made, and the 
very first one that went into that cage was the bishop 
himself. He had DfTended the king before he got the 
cage finished; and for fourteen long years the king kept 
him in that cage.. He had to reap what he sowed. 

Another thing : When a man sows he expects to reap 
more than he sows. You sow a handful of grain, and 
you will reap a busheL Some men think that it is 
pretty hard to have to reap more than they sow. But, 
then, you ought to think of that when you are sowing, 
That is a law of nature. You must reap more thaa you 



312 BE NOT DECEIVED. 

sow. Why, many a man has brought ruin upon him- 
self and his whole family by one act — for just one 
night's pleasure ; and he has blasted his reputation, his 
character and the hopes of his friends — all gone. Some- 
times a man has to reap when he sows; it comes quick; 
judgment follows right on after the act, as in the case of 
Judas, and of Cain. Sometimes, as I said last night, 
sentence is delayed, but it is surely coming. There is 
one thing a man can always count on, and that is that his 
sin will overtake him. 

The Bible says, " Be sure your sin will find you out." 
A man may laugh at that and say, " I will cover up my 
tracks so they cannot find me out. I will bury the deed 
so deep that it shall never have a resurrection." Young 
man, " Be not deceived; God is not mocked; whatsoever 
a man soweth that shall he also reap." You may sow 
it in darkness, and you may say that no eye has seen 
you; but God has seen you. His eyes go to and fro 
through the earth. He knows what the sons of men 
are doing, and you cannot deceive him. I will venture 
to say there is not a man or woman in this audience to- 
night but has been deceived. You know what it is to be 
deceived. You have been deceived by some of your 
neighbors. You have been deceived and u taken in," as 
you call it, by some stranger that has come along. You 
know what it is to be deceived. There is not a man or 
woman in this audience but what has been deceived. 
You have been deceived by some bosom friend — by some 
brother or first cousin, perhaps. But more than that, 
you have been deceived by your own heart. I will ven- 
ture to say we have been deceived more by our own 
treacherous hearts than anything else." The heart is de- 
ceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." There- 
fore, if a man is guided by his own dark mind and dark 
heart, he will be led astray. What we want is not to 



BS NOT DECEIVED. 313 

be deceived by our own heart God does not deceive us, 
and He does not want us to attempt to deceive him. 
" Be not deceived. God is not mocked." When man 
sing it is known. God knows it. It is blindness and 
folly for him to think it will never come to light. It 
may be twenty years afterwards, but sin will overtake 
him as it did Jacob. Look at those sons of Jacob, when 
Joseph was taken and thrown into prison. " We do re- 
member our fault this day, how our loved brother Jo- 
seph pleaded." Twenty long years had rolled away 
and their sin had overtaken them in a strange land. Be 
sure that your sin, young man, will find you out. It 
may be this very day you took out of your employer's 
till twenty-five cents. Perhaps last week you took fifty 
cents and went to the theater with it. But you say, " I 
will put it back some time." That is the way these de- 
faulters begin. That is the way men that become for- 
gers begin. Men don't go to a precipice and jump 
down. They come down step by step. It is these little 
things — twenty-five cents or a dollar. You say, " I can 
replace that any time; that don't amount to anything." 
Ah, my friends, " Be not deceived." A man that steals 
twenty-five cents is just as much a thief as one that steals 
$5,000. He has made his conscience guilty. He is not 
the man he was before he took it He is laying a bad 
foundation, and if he attempts to build on that found- 
ation the structure will fall. 

When we were in New York City a man came up 
from the boat to the Hippodrome. He was out of 
money, had no friends, and was a perfect stranger. He 
was a fine looking young man, and I said to him, "How 
is this? How is it you come over here, a perfect stranger; 
without money and without friends ?" The poor fellow 
took me off to one side and told me the story. He said 
he had held a high position in England, but one night 



S14 BE NOT DECEIVED. 

hcwaB out gambling with his employer's money; he 
was the confidential man and carried the money that be- 
longed to his employers; these men that were gambling 
with him got him drunk, and he gambled away all his 
employer's money, and the only thing for him to do 
was to go to prison or escape — flee to this country, I talked 
with him and found he had left a beautiful wife and a 
beautiful family of children, I said, " How is it, do they 
know where you are ?" " No," says he, " they don't" 
I said, "was not that pretty hard?" The poor man 
wrung his hands and says, " I am broken-hearted ; not 
only my own character gone, but brought ruin upon my 
wife and children." Ah, just one night's pleasure, one 
night in that gambling den, and he was stripped of all. 
There was a stain and he could not wipe it out God in 
mercy may forgive him, but at the same time a man has 
got to reap what he sows. I can imagine I hear some 
one say, " I would like to hear you explain that — if Jesus 
Christ forgives, how is it a-man has got to reap what he 
sows ?" 

You know the Bible tells us the penalty of sin is 
death — the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Now Christ 
will meet that penalty because He will save my soul; 
but, at the same time, if God forgives me, I have to reap 
what I sow; for instance, I send a man out to sow wheat 
and he gets mad at me and sows thistles. When the 
reaping time comes I ask him, "Do you know anything 
about these thistles? " and he says, " Mr. Moody, I got 
mad at you that day when you sent me out to sow wheat 
and I sowed thistles; I am very sorry, will you forgive 
me?" I will forgive you, but I tell you when you reap 
that wheat you will have to reap thistles too. God may 
forgive a man, but at the same time he has got to reap 
what he sows. One act may make me reap all the rest 
of my days with sorrow, with shame. God may forgive 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 315 

me, yet I have to reap. I think I can make that still 
plainer. When we were preaching in the Tabernacle 
in Chicago one night, a young man came into the inquiry 
room, a fine looking young man. The minister tried to 
talk to him, but he did not seem to open up. The min- 
ister said to me, " I wish you would come and see this 
young man." I went down and sat down by his side. 
The poor fellow trembled. He was greatly agitated. I 
could not talk with him as much as I would like to, so I 
said, " I wish you would come to-morrow at I o'clock 
at the close of the noon meeting." At i o'clock that 
young man was there. He was from Ohio, not far from 
Cleveland. He went on and told me his history. He 
told me he was a telegraph operator. The boys in the 
express office where they officed and himself used to 
meet nights and play cards. One night they suggested 
diey would break into the express office out of fun. He 
said at last they broke into the express office. He was 
arrested, tried and acquitted. When they found him in- 
nocent they took him right up in their arms and carried 
him out in the street and just cheered and cheered. He 
said it went like a hot iron into his soul. He said he 
was guilty, and for seven months he had not known 
what peace was. Now, says he, " I would like to know 
if I can become a Christian without giving myself up to 
the law and confessing my guilt." I said, " I never like 
to advise a man to do what I would not do myself, and 
I don't know what I would do if I was in that situation. 
But it is always safe to ask God. Let us get down and 
pray about this matter." We got down and I prayed, 
and the minister that was with us prayed, and then we 
asked this young man to pray. He said, "No, sir." 
Said I, " Why not?" "I know what that means; if I 
pray I have to give myself up to the law." Said I, "My 
friead, it 13 always safe to do what God wants you to do. 



31 6 B£ KOT DECHIVKT>. 

You had better ask Him for guidance." At last the 
young man opened his lips in prayer. After prayer he 
said, " Well, gentlemen, I thank you for the interest you 
have taken in me. My duty is very plain. I will sub- 
mit to the law. I am going down to Ohio to give 
myself up." He took the train that afternoon. When 
he got about fifty miles out of the city he sent me back 
a dispatch that he had set his face to do right, and God 
revealed Himself to him and the Lord blessed him on 
the train. And he came down home. I wish I had the 
letter he wrote me. I think I never wept so much over 
a letter as I did over that. He had a Christian mother 
clown here, not far from Cleveland, and father, and there 
were eight brothers and sisters. When he got home 
they were all glad to see him. They had not seen him 
for seven months. He said that evening, after they had 
ail got in the house and quiet, he just told them how God 
had met him, and how he was then coming home to con- 
fess his guilt. His father aijd mother and family thought 
him innocent up to that night; but he said: "I stole 
that money, and I am a perjured man; I am on my 
way now to give myself up to the law." He says to his 
father: "I know I have brought disgrace upon you. I 
have done wrong. I want you to forgive me." The 
old man says, " Yes, I will forgive you." He says to 
his mother: " Can you forgive me, can you forgive your 
boy ?" The mother says : " Yes, I will forgive you, my 
son," and the brothers and sisters all said they would 
forgive him. Then he got down and prayed— the first 
prayer he had made, except the one he had made there in 
Chicago. The next morning he left that home of 
weeping and gave himself up to the law* He was 
tried at Akron and sent to the penitentiary. His mother 
was taken down some time after with typhoid fever and 
the boy could not go to see the mother. Tell me that h« 
MA not have to reap what he sowed. Tell mo that the 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 317 

reaping was not fearful ! That godly, praying mothet 
dying in his own State and he could not go and see her 
Though God in His infinite mercy had forgiven him 
yet the boy had to reap what he sowed, He had sowed 
the wind and he was reaping the whirlwind. Don't 
make light of sin. Sin is a fearful thing. It makes life 
so dark. At last the father was taken down with 
typhoid fever and it was thought he was dying, and 
some Cleveland men went to the Governor of the State 
and the first pardon your present Governor granted 
was for that young man. When he got out he tele- 
graphed me that he had got his release and went home 
to nurse his father, and, as he supposed, to see him die. 
But the father recovered. Then a brother was taken 
down. He watched over that brother and the brother 
died. At last this young man was taken down and 
when he was given up to die, he asked that the Chris- 
tians of that town should come to his bedside to pray 
with him ; and he lifted up his voice in prayer, and in a 
little while he passed away and he is in the world of 
light to-night. The poor boy has had to reap. Do you 
think he ever forgave himself? God forgave him, but 
he did forgive himself. It is a fearful thing to sow wild 
oats. You may laugh at it now, but the reaping 
time is coming by and by, and there will be no 
laughing when the reaping time comes. Cain would 
like to have changed places with Abel when the reaping 
time came. Do you think Ahab would not like to take 
Elijah's place? If a man goes on sowing he has got to 
reap. If he don't reap here he has got to reap hereafter, 
because it is a decree of high heaven, " Whatsoever a 
man soweth, that he shall also reap." 

O, friends, I beg of you to-night be wise and turn 
from sin; hate it with a perfect hatred; ask God this 
night to forgive you and help you to do right, because 
he wants you to do right 



BIBLE READINGS. 

PEACE, 

Our subject to-day is peace. "How beautiful upon 
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good 
tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings 
of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, 
thy God reigneth."— Is. Hi. 7. 

Now the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is a Gospel of peace. 
He comes to bring peace to the earth; that is to bring 
peace to those who love Him. 

Now I have often heard people say, " I don't under- 
stand then, what that means in the tenth chapter of 
Matthew and thirty-fourth verse, 4 Think not that I am 
came to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, 
but a sword.' " But it is peace to them that have it, but 
a sword to them that have the sword. They that live in 
the flesh cannot live there that live in the spirit 

There is a war between nature and grace. There 
always has been and always will be. The spirit of God 
and the spirit of the natural man never agreed and 
never will. There is as much difference between them 
as between oil and water or day and night. You cannot 
unite them. 

One of the wildest young men in Chicago was con- 
verted two years ago and he has become a very devoted 
Christian. He went to one of his old associates in sin 
and spoke to him about becoming a Christian. The 
man turned on him with great rage and said, M If you 
ever speak to me on that subject again I will knock your 
head off." u That is strange when I speak to you, and 

318 



BIBLE READINGS, 319 

want to do you good, you get angry and say you will 
knock my head off." " Well, I ought not to have said 
%; I don't know what made me say it." " I know what 
iiade you say it, it is the devil in you and grace in me, 
They never have agreed and they never will." 

When you lay down the sword there is peace. He 
wants you to get peace. He came for that very purpose. 
If we will have Christ then there is peace, but if not, 
who is to blame. If there is war it is not because He 
did not bring peace, but it is man's own corrupt nature, 
his own black heart. 

It is impossible to plant peace in this world without 
war. That is clear. The world is at war with God. 
It don't want Him. When we are willing to have peace 
we can enter into it. Christ brought it. He says in the 
sixteenth chapter of John, thirty-third verse, "These 
things I have spoken unto you that in Me ye might have 
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of 
good cheer. I have overcome the world." 

A great mistake people make is that they are looking 
for peace in the world. It is not to be found in the 
world. We are going to have it by and by in that 
millennium reign. Now is the time of Christ's rejection. 
But by and by He is coming back, " and righteousness 
shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the 
girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the 
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and 
the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; 
and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the 
bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together, 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox," That day has 
not come. Some people tell us we are living in the 
millennium. I don't see any signs just now of a mil- 
lennium with all these standing armies. "They shall not 
hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth 



320 BIBUC READING*. 

shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall 
be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of 
the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest 
shall be glorious." That is the millennium. That is not 
the present day. While men are lifting up their voices 
against God they cannot have peace. 

Now there are some enemies to peace. Every sin is an 
enemy to peace. God turns the ways of the wicked up- 
side down. There is no peace for the wicked. In the twen- 
ty-second chapter of Job you will find this passage;" Ac- 
quaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; thereby 
good shall come unto thee." Get acquainted with God 
and you will get peace. He is the author of peace. 
The way to get peace is to feed upon the blessed Word 
and find out what God is to us. Then we must have 
righteousness. Righteousness comes , before peace. 
Without right living we cannot have peace. He wants 
every one of his children to" have it. " Thou wilt keep 
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." But 
it is not read in that way. It is read, " Thou wilt keep 
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on himself." 

Now, in the fourteenth chapter of John twenty- 
seventh verse: "Peace I leave with you; My peace 
I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto 
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid." 

A great many people are all the time trying to make 
peace without entering into the conditions we enter in. 

Toward the close of the war there was a proclama- 
tion sent out that no more Southern soldiers would be 
received in the Union army. There were some in the 
Southern army that hadn't seen the proclamation and a 
rebel deserter came up to the Union army but the Union 
army would not have him. There he was between 



BIBLE READINGS. 321 

thorn great armies. He would not go back for fear of 
being shot as a deserter, so he took to the woods and 
hid himself and lived on roots and herbs. At last he 
had to get food or die. One day he met a man riding 
on horseback and he said if that man didn't help him he 
would kill him. The man said, " What is the trouble ?" 
Then he told him the trouble. " Why, says he, don't 
you know that the war is over and peace has been de- 
clared." " What ! peace declared ? " " Yes." 

Ah, poor man! All he had to do was to enter into it 
Thank God peace has been declared. Jesus Christ has 
made peace. He has not left it for me* All I have to 
do is to enter into it. 



ASSURANCE. 

Our subject for this meeting is assurance. We have 
said considerable upon this subject, but I think a good 
deal more is needed to be said in order that the children 
of God may know that they are saved through Jesus 
Christ. There are some people that will not know that 
they are saved because they are not. I think there are 
some who want the assurance that they are saved that 
have not been born of the spirit. A person may unite 
with some church, go through all the forms, be a formal 
ist — and know nothing about the grace of God — be a 
stranger to the new birth. If a person has not been 
regenerated by the power of the Holy Ghost he will not 
have assurance and should not have. 

Then there is another class — people who are living in 
some sin, not living by the light that God has given 
them, of course they will not have assurance. 

The next class is professed Christians that are not 
willing to do anything for Christ. I don't believe that 
they will have assurance. When we are ready and will- 



322 BIBLE READINGS. 

mg to do what He says I think there will be no trouble 
about our assurance. 

Now, Paul says in the first chapter of Colossians, 
twelfth verse, " Giving thanks unto the Father which 
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 
the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the 
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the king- 
dom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption 
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." 

Now, in those twelfth and thirteenth verses it says 
u hath " three times; " hath made," " hath delivered," 
" hath translated." Not that He is going to do it, but 
that He hath done it. It is a very nice study to take up 
that little word " hath " all through Christ's teachings. 
It don't mean something that we are going to have at 
the end of life. " He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life." Wherever you can find a truth repeat- 
ed three times you may know it is a very important 
truth, and He wants us to understand it. 

It is to me one of the most comforting things in the 
Scriptures that I have got eternal life; that when I was 
born—- born out of God — that is the true rendering of 
that — that I got eternal life, and that means life without 
end. If it was only life for six months, or six years, it 
would not be everlasting life, would it? It would not be 
eternal life. And if I did not get eternal life at the new 
birth, if I did not get eternal life when I accepted of 
Jesus Christ, what did I get? 

We need not be left in darkness about our having this 
eternal life, because if we look into the Bible we can find 
over and over again where he gives us tests that we can 
put to ourselves. For instance, if I love the brethren, 
that is a sign that I have got Christ's spirit. If I love 
my enemies, that is a better sign. Now, it takes the 
grace of God— it takes the love of God — nothing but the 



BIBLE READINGS. 323 

love of God will enable me to do that. To love a man 
that slanders me; to love a man that would tear down 
my character; to love a man that would ruin and blast 
my life, takes some thing besides human love. You can- 
not do that of yourself. It is not in the power of man. 
You go out and preach to the world — tell men to love 
their enemies ; they will say, " I ought to, but I hate 
them. I just hate them." If a man had come to me 
and told me before I was born of God to love my ene- 
mies, and pray for them that persecute me, he might as 
well have gone and talked to the wind. It was not in 
my power to do it. But when I was born of God I got 
a new principle planted in me — the power to love my 
enemies ; and the first impulse of the young convert is to 
love. I remember when I was converted I loved every 
person on the face of the earth. All bitterness had been 
taken out. To love a man that loves me, or a man that 
is lovely, takes no grace at all. The natural man does 
that But to love those that do not care for you takes 
the love of God. Have you got that love? Let us put 
that test to ourselves. If we have, that is a sign that the 
Holy Ghost has shed abroad the love of God in our 
hearts, and we have the Spirit of Calvary. Because the 
very moment Jesus Christ was being put to death on the 
cross, that very hour when they were mocking and 
deriding Him, He was praying, "Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." If we have Christ's 
spirit, it seems to me we don't want any more evidence. 
We are told over here in Peter's Second Epistle, first 
chapter and fourth verse, " Whereby are given unto us 
exceeding great and precious promises: That by these 
ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having 
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" 
When I was born of my parents I got the first Adam 
nature. When I was born of God I got the second Adam 



324 BIBLE RSADFNG*. 

nature, which is different You ask me why God loves. 
I don't know. You ask me why the sun shines. I don't 
know. I suppose God loves on the same principle — He 
can't help it. He is love. If I am partaker of the same 
nature I will have that love. "And besides this, giving 
all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue 
knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to tem- 
perance patience; and to patience godliness; and to god- 
liness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness 
charity: For if these things be in you, and abound, they 
make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful 
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." 

Now, how can we add to all these graces if we have 
none to add? If we don't know that we have a founda- 
tion to build on, how are we to add to it? It is impos- 
sible. We must first know that we have a foundation. 
We must first know that we have passed from death 
unto life. That we have been translated into the 
kingdom of His dear Son. 

There are two kingdoms, and we belong to the one 01 
the other. We are either saved or w*» are not saved. God 
didn't come down and forgive me and leave me to 
perish. Christ died for me and He will not bring any- 
thing against me, and God justified me and He certainly 
will not bring anything against me. " Who shall lay 
anything to God's elect?" Satan may bring on his 
charges, let him bring up my whole life. If God has 
forgiven me what do I care ? 

There was a man in England at one time that was 
tried for his life. He had committed the crime of murder 
and he was convicted. One thing that amazed the court 
and the spectators was the coolness of the prisoner. He 
seemed to be quite unconcerned. When the jury brought 
m a verdict of guilty it didn't seem to stir him at all. He 
was the most unconcerned man in the court room. 



BIBLE READINGS. 



325 



When the judge came to read him his sentence that he 
was to be hanged, the man put his hand in his pocket 
and pulled out a pardon, laid it down on the judge's bench 
and went out of the court a free man. Sin has con- 
demned us to death, but Christ is here with a pardon. I 
am not going to be condemned because God has justified 
me. The whole thing is blotted out. God says, " there 
is nothing in His ledger against us." God justifies the 
believer, therefore we have nothing to fear. " Ah," 
but you say, "I have sinned since I became a 
believer; that is what is troubling me." Now God has 
made provision for the believer's sin. If he had not 
I think the whole of us would be lost. Who has not 
sinned since he has believed? But I tell you what the 
Lord wants us to do : He wants us to confess our sins. 
Now, John says that if we confess our sins, and that is 
written to believers, " He is just and faithful to forgive 
our sins." I think the "Believer's sins " would be a good 
text for a sermon. There are a great many believers 
that have got discouraged about sin. Now, the differ- 
ence between a Christian and one that is not a Christian, 
is that the Christian confesses his sins, and the other 
does not. The true believer will go right to the Lard 
Jesus Christ and confess his sins. There was a time 
that I could sin and it didn't hurt me. If I did the same 
things I once did it would break my heart. I could not 
do it. What we want is to go to the Master and tell it 
all to Him. " He is just and faithful to forgive." When 
your children do wrong and show true signs of contrition 
how glad you are to forgive them. You delight to for- 
give them. They say " Short accounts make long 
friends." What we want is to keep short accounts with 
God. Just square up the account every night before you 
go to bed. If you have done wrong confess it and ask 
God to forgive you and He will put it away. He de« 



326 BIBLE READINGS, 

lights in forgiveness. When we do wrong we want to 
take our sins right away to Him, confess them and 
believe that He has put them away. It is very dishon- 
oring for us to go lugging up our sins to the cross that 
have been put away. I think I can make that plain. 
Suppose I go to Chicago next week and my little boy 
tomes to me and he says, " Do you know when you 
were down in Cleveland I done some thing you told me 
never to do? I told a lie." I am very sorry to hear it " I 
am very sorry myself but I want you to forgive me." I 
saw the poor boy's heart was broken. It was true con- 
trition* I take him to my bosom and tell him, " Yes, I 
will forgive you." The next day he comes to me and he 
says, " I wish you would forgive that lie." M I have 
forgiven you, but to gratify you will forgive you again." 
And the third day he comes and brings it up again. 
And the fourth day brings it up again, and week in and 
week out does the same thing. Don't you think we are 
grieving God if he has forgiven us, by continually 
bringing up the same sins and asking Him to forgive 
them ? If God has blotted out my sins that is enoughu 
Satan may bring up the record, but the blood of Jesus 
Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. 

Now, assurance is taking God without any " if 's." 
There is a story in the life of the Emperor Napoleon 
that has been published a good many times, and that 
illustrates the point as well as anything I know of. 
Napoleon was out one day viewing his army, accom- 
panied by his body guard, when his horse became 
frightened and ran away at great speed. A private 
soldier, seeing the peril of his commander, stepped out 
of the ranks and, at the risk of his own life, grabbed, the 
horse by the bit of the bridle and thereby saved the 
Emperor's life. " Thank you, Captain" said the 
Emperor, and the soldier instead of taking his usual 



BIBLE READINGS, 327 

place in the ranks took his place as captain at the head 
of the Emperor's body guard. The commander of the 
guard not knowing of the occurrence disputed his right 
to the position when told that he was a captain, and 
asked him who said it His reply was, ** The Emperor." 
That settled it. So when the devil comes and says you 
are not a Christian, tell him who says it, the Lord Jesus 
said it. * He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
life." All the devils in hell can't make me believe that 
I don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do believe, 
u Well," but you say, " You don't love Him enough." 
No, I don't, I wish I loved Him a thousand times more. 
But I believe Him and I want to love Him more and 
more, and better and better. There is one thing I am 
sure of and that is, He is mine and I am His, and when 
you just get there my friends, then you can go right out 
and go to work. Really there is no comfort; there is 
no peace; there is no joy without assurance. Oh, may 
God give us this assurance I 

THE PROMISES. 

We have for our subject to-day, w The Promises." 
i am not going to talk much, but I want to have the 
friends all to be ready to give a promise. I remember a 
few years ago, in our church in Chicago, we wanted a 
little more life in the prayer meetings, and we just gave 
out, instead of having prayer meeting the next Friday 
night, that we would have a promise meeting, and wanted 
everyone in the house to bring a promise. We were so 
afraid the whole Bible would not be read through that 
we gave each man a book to read, and we got the sixty - 
six books read through in one week. One man found a 
promise in Job. I didn't know there were any promises 
in Job. We had promises from all parts of ths 



828 BIBX.E READINGS. 

Bible. I think if the people would just feed more on 
the promises of God that we would not have so many 
gloomy Christians. That is what the promises are for 
— to help us in this wilderness journey. I don't believe 
there is a man can get into any position in this 
world— trouble, darkness, gloom, despondency — but God 
has some promise that will help him out if he will only 
hunt it up. But we have to hunt for it. 

A man said to me, " What promise do you think the 
most of in the Bible?" "Well, I could not tell. I 
have three children, and I could not tell which I like the 
best, but, I suppose, if I had ten it would be the same 
thing." The promises of God are all good. 

But, we want the promises rightly divided. Satan 
has some promises, and there are a great many people 
can't tell the difference. They are living on the Devil's 
promises and wondering why they don't grow — why 
they don't get spiritual power. When Satan makes a 
promise he may fulfill it and he may not. He don't care 
whether he does or not. Then he has not the power to 
make all his promises good. 

Then there are promises that are made by manu 
They are, perhaps, good, and perhaps not But when 
God makes promises they are good — God's promises are 
all good. 

I remember, a few years ago, I went to work for a 
man in Chicago—it was quite a number of years ago. 
But time goes so fast in the Lord's service, it don't seem 
to be but a few days — my employer said, " I am going 
to send you out into the country collecting." The day 
before I started, he went to the safe and took out a large 
number of bills and notes, and spread them out on the 
table, and there he was at work. He would take his 
pencil and mark on the margin of the bills and notes, 
and I didn't understand what it meant I was to start 



BIBLX READINGS, 329 

off on the ten o'clock train, at night. Before I started 
he said to me, "I want you to sit down and I will 
explain to you about these notes." Said he, "When 
you come to a note and find " D " written on it, that is 
doubtful. Get all the collateral you can on that note. 
When you come across a note with " B " written on it, 
that means bad. That, settle up if you can. Then 
there is another class of notes you will find " G" marked 
on That means good. No discount on them. They 
are worth one hundred cents on the dollar. It was the 
same promise. The notes all read the same. Four or 
six months after date, "I promise to pay." All the 
difference was in the one that signed it. So when you 
come to these promises of the Bible, you want to find 
out whose they are, If it is some promise man has 
made, it may not be worth that (snapping his finger.) 
If it is a promise of the devil, I would not give that for 
it He is an old liar and has been from the foundation 
of the world. But when God makes a promise, you 
ca.n write down g-o-o-d on that promise every time. I 
think the people of the church are really dividing them 
into three classes. A great many people take some of 
God's promises and mark them " B," bad, and think 
God is not going to keep them. Then some they mark 
M D," doubtful. And then there are a few they have 
seen fulfilled, and when they can't get around it, they 
mark them "G," good. When we come to one of 
God's promises, let us put down "good." There is no 
discount on any promise God ever made. Then we 
must bear in mind who the promise is made to. If the 
promise is jnade to pay this country one hundred million 
lollars, it would not help me pay my private debts. 
The nation might be worth one hundred million dollars 
more and I not be worth a cent The promise of a 
nation is one thing. 



330 BIBLE READINGS* 

We want to get a little closer to some promises that 
arc to us. There are some promises that are to the 
church. They are very good. Then there are prom- 
ises to individuals. Those are the promises we want to 
hunt up. Then there are promises made to Abraham ; 
some to Adam; some to Noah; some to Moses; some 
to Elias, and to Gideon. Now I could not take a prom- 
ise that was made to Gideon. If I should take three hun- 
dred men to meet the great army of the Midianites, I 
would get most outrageously beaten and driven back, 
because that promise was not made to me, but to Gideon. 
When we study these prophecies, we want to find out 
that they are for " me." I know there are some for 
me, and I can lay hold of them from the fact that they 
are mine. 

Now, I am going to give you one or two promises I 
think a good deal of, and then I will throw the meeting 
open for others to give promises. John, First Epistle, 
second chapter, twenty-fifth^ verse: "And this is the 
promise that he hath promised us even eternal life." 
That means me. That promise was for me. God offers 
it to me, the promise was eternal life. Life without end. 
That is something I can appropriate. I can lay hold of 
that. Then turn to the forty-second chapter of the pro- 
phecy of Isaiah, sixth verse, you will find another promise: 
" I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will 
hold thine hand and will keep thee, and give thee for a 
covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles." 

We read in the tenth chapter of John and twenty- 
eight verse, " And I give unto them eternal life, and they 
shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of 
my hand." No one " shall pluck them out of my hand," 
neither devil nor man. Some one has said we might 
slip through His fingers. But we can't slip through his 
fingers because we are a part of His body. He has not 



BIBLE READINGS 331 

only promised me eternal life, but he has promised t© 
keep me. The keeper of Israel never sleeps. He will 
keep all them that put their trust in Him. 

In the forty-first chapter of Isaiah, tenth verse, " Fear 
thou not; for I am with thee: Be not dismayed; for I 
am thy God ; and will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help 
thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of 
my righteousness." Thirteenth verse, " For I, the Lord 
thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear 
not; I will help thee. 

In the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews, last part of the 
fifth verse, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." 
So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I 
will not fear what man shall do unto me." 

Then I turn over into the twenty-third chapter of 
Joshua. We find there that Joshua was old and weary, 
and going to rest. If you want to get the real testimony 
of a man you don't want to take it in the middle of his 
life. Joshua was one hundred and ten years old when 
he gave this testimony. He had tried God in the brick 
kilns of Egypt making brick without straw. Talk about 
the hardships we have to go through. We don't know 
anything about it. You want to go back six thousand years 
and see what those men endured. He found God's 
word was true. This is his testimony : " This day I 
am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all 
your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing has 
failed of all the good things which the Lord your God 
spake concerning you." Oh, let us drive these devil's lies 
back into the pit whence they came. God will fulfill all 
his promises. There is a man that tried him one hund- 
red and ten years and found him true. 

I knew an old lady that marked in the margin oppo- 
site the promises T. P., T. for tried and P. for proven. 
What we want is to try the Bible and see if it is not 
true. 



332 



BfBU REAPING*. 



CONFESSING CHRIST. 

Our subject to-day is 4< Confessing Christ," and I want 
to call your attention to two characters. They both 
lived in Jerusalem at the time Christ was here. One of 
them, you might say, stood on the very bottom round of 
the ladder. He was not only a blind man, but he was a 
beggar. The other stood in the very highest position. 
He was a very rich man. I want to call your attention 
to how those two men confessed Christ, and how in his 
sphere in life each did what the Lord would have him 
do, and what he would have every one of his disciples 
do. This ninth chapter of John is a most extraordinary 
chapter. I have not time to read the whole chapter. 
Here are forty verses given to an account of this one 
blind beggar; and it is just an account of his confession. 
We would have it all in two or three verses were it not 
for his confession. It was grand and bold, that man 
standing up there in Jerusalem confessing Christ. The 
Lord sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash. He went 
and came back clean. And the first thing we hear is a 
dispute about this man. The neighbors and those who 
had seen him before said, " Isn't this the blind man that 
used to sit and beg?" Some said it was he. Others 
said he looked very much like him. If he had been like 
some people at the present time, he would have said, 
H Well, I've got my sight. What do I care. There will 
be trouble about this if I don't keep still." But, says he 7 
44 1 am he." It is a good thing when young converts get 
their lips open, if it is only to say, "I am he." That was all 
he said. You will find that in the ninth verse. " Some 
said, This is he : others said, He is like him ; but he said, 
I am he. Therefore said they unto him, How were 
thine eyes opened?" Now he begins to tell his experi- 
ence, " He answered and said,, a man that is called Jesus 

Glory 11 



i BIBLE READINGS 333 

jnade clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, 
Go to the pool of Siloam and wash: and I went and 
washed, and I received sight." A straightforward story. 
ft is not the most flippant and fluent witness that has the 
most influence with the jury. It is the man who tells 
the truth, and tells it in his own language; don't need 
any polish; just testifies what he knows. "Then said they 
unto him, where is he? He said, I know not" He did 
not tell more than he knew. " Then again the Pharisees 
also asked him how he had received his sight. He said 
unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, 
and do see." He told his experience twice. He was not 
ashamed to tell it over the second time if he could do 
any good. w Therefore, said some of the Pharisees, this 
man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath 
day. Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do 
such miracles? And there was a division among them." 
I am afraid if we had been there we would have kept 
still. We would have said, " There is a storm coming. 
I will keep out of it. I will not take sides. I will be 
neutral. They say unto the blind man again, u What 
sayest thou of Him, that he hath opened thine eyes?" 
He might have said, " I haven't seen him. I don't know. 
When I came back he was gone. I didn't have my eyes 
when he met me." He might have dodged the question. 
He might have said, M There is a storm brewing. I am 
going to get out of this storm. It is very unpopular to 
confess Jesus Christ now. There is a hiss going up 
against Him." He might very well have said, " Well t 
I don't know. I have not made up my mind. I 
have not seen him. I would like to talk to 
him." That would have been the expression of 
most of us. But this man, if you will allow me the ex- 
pression, had backbone. He stood up and said, 4 * He is 
a prophet." He did the best thing a young convert 



334 BIBLE READINGS. 

sould do — told what the Lord had done for him, then 
confessed Him, and then began to talk about the Master. 
* But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he 
had been blind, and received his sight, until they called 
the parents of him that had received his sight. And 
they asked them, saying, " Is this your son who ye say 
was born blind, how then doth he now see?" His par- 
ents answered them and said, " We know that this is our 
son, and that he was born blind, but by what means he 
now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes 
we know not; he is of age; ask him; he shall speak for 
himself." I have great contempt for those parents. It 
was a downright lie. They knew their boy did not lie. 
They cast a reflection upon their son. They had not 
the moral courage to come right out and take their stand 
with their boy, and say, "Jesus of Nazareth did it." 
They were afraid they would lose their position. An 
edict had already gone forth that if any one should con- 
fess that he was Christ, he-should be put out of the syn- 
agogue. It was a pretty serious thing to be cast out of 
the synagogue then. If a man is turned out of one 
church now, another church will take him. If the 
Presbyterians won't have him, the Methodists will take 
him in. If the Methodists won't take him in, perhaps 
the Baptists will receive him. " He is of age ; ask him." 
Do you know that is the trouble to-day? There is many 
a time when we could put our testimony in for Jesus 
Christ that we dodge the question. We haven't the 
moral stamina to confess him when we have the oppor- 
tunity. These parents never had such an opportunity, 
but they missed it. My friends, let us not miss an op- 
portunity to speak for Jesus Christ. "These words 
spake his parents, because they feared the Jews, for the 
Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that 
he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 



B1BLS HEADINGS. 335 

Therefore said his parents, "He is of age; ask him." 
Then again called they the man that was blind, and said 
unto him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man 
is a sinner." He answered and said, " Whether he be a 
sinner or no, I know not; one thing I know, that, where- 
as I was blind, now I see." All the Jews in Christendom 
could not beat that out of him. All the Pharasees in 
Jerusalem could not beat that out of him. " Don't 1 
know? I have been following my way through the 
world these twenty odd years. Don't I know it?" And 
if we belong to God, shall we not know it? Can infi- 
dels and skeptics talk it out of us. Has He not given us 
a new life, a new nature, a new principle? 

You see he did not tell what he didn't know; but he 
stuck to what he did know pretty well. They could 
not move him. He stood there like a man. "Then 
said they to him again, what did He to thee? how opened 
He thine eyes ? He answered them, I have told you 
already, and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear 
it again? Will ye also be His disciples?" There is faith 
for you. He thought he was going to convert those old 
Pharisees on the spot — those men that Christ could not 
reach. That is what we want — young convert's zeal. 
He was a young convert worth having. If you had a 
few converts like that, your church would be worth 
something. " Then they reviled him, and said, 4 Thou 
art His disciple; but we are Moses' disciple. We know 
that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know 
not from whence he is.' The man answered and said 
unto them, * Why, herein is a marvelous thing, that ye 
know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened 
mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners; 
but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His 
will, him He heareth. Since the world began was it 
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was 



336 BEBLE READINGS 

born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do 
nothing." There is not a theologian in this town that 
could preach a better sermon than that. If he had been at 
Princeton four years and sat at the feet of Dr. Hodge or 
any one else, he could not have got the theology that 
young man had. Most extraordinary young convert! 
He preaches like a saint. He preaches as though he had 
been sitting at the feet of Christ for twenty years. 
Wonderful argument! Couldn't get around it! He 
stood right there and preached Jesus Christ And that 
is what we want to do as witnesses. Christ has left us 
down here to confess Him — to stand up for Him in this 
dark, unbelieving age. And if we stand up for Him, he 
will stand by us and help us. This man's testimony was 
so clear and so keen that they didn't like him. People 
talk about their having to leave the world. I tell you if 
you love Jesus Christ, and stand up for Him, you won't 
have to leave the world ; the world will leave you. " They 
answered and said unto him, thou wast altogether born 
in sins, and dost thou teacli us? And they cast him out." 
And where did they cast him? Right into the arms of 
the loving Saviour. I tell you it is a good thing when 
our testimony is so clear for Jesus Christ that the world 
casts us out. The world can't separate us from the 
Master. The very next thing we hear in this story of 
this man is that Jesus heard of it; and he went out and 
found him. It pleased the Master. I will venture to 
say He did not find a man in all Jerusalem that pleased 
Him more than that poor, blind beggar. He was a 
prince among men — a man that could stand up against 
such an opposition as he stood against among those 
proud, haughty Pharisees, and confess Christ as he did. 
How it has come along down the ages. I want to see 
that blind beggar when I get to heaven. I want to 
shake hands with him, and thank him for that testiraoay. 



KBUS RKADING&. 337 

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when He 

had found him he said unto him, dost thou believe on 
the Son of God ? " Of course he did from the way he 
had been talking. No man could talk as he did if he 
didn't believe. " He answered and said, who is he Lord, 
that I might believe on Him ? And Jesus said unto him, 
thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with 
thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped 
Him." We have him right there at the feet of the 
Savior. We could not have him in a better place. 
"And he worshiped Him." 

The next character I want to call your attention to is 
Joseph of Arimathea. I will not take up much time, 
although it is worth a whole day. John tells us that 
Joseph was a secret disciple of Jesus. Joseph and 
Nicodemus did not act very well while Christ was alive, 
I will admit. It was his death that brought them out 
Nicodemus did not just cast his lot right in with those 
fishermen and follow Christ from village to village, but 
he kept his place in the synagogue. He stood up faintly 
for him. But when Jesus Christ died, Joseph of Arimathea 
and Nicodemus stood up boldly, no longer secret disci- 
ples, and when the other disciples left him, Joseph came 
out boldly and begged the body of Jesus Christ. The 
Sanhedrim had already said that if any man should con- 
fess that he was Christ, he should be cast out of the 
synagogue. Joseph was a man that stood high. He 
was a counseller; but we are told that he never gave his 
consent to the death of Jesus Christ He was a rich 
man, an honorable man, a just man. But the only thing 
that Joseph did that has come along down the ages was 
to confess Jesus Christ. When the news came tiiaf 
Jesus was dead, he went in boldly to Pilate. He tool 
his stand and identified himself with this despised Nasa- 
reae, that had died the death of a common criminal^ ttmt 



S38 BIBLE READINGS. 

had died the death of one of the most notorious crim- 
inals, for only the very worst criminals died the death of 
the cross, Joseph of Arimathea goes boldly into Pilate's 
judgment hall begs that body; and he and Nicodemus 
take it down, wash it in clean water, wrap it in fine linen, 
and lay it in Joseph's sepulcher. Sweet act! Matthew, 
Mark, Luke, John, all tell it. It touched their hearts to 
think that Joseph should have done that act for the 
Master. Joseph had a good execuse for not doing it. 
He might have said, " He is dead. He is gone. If I 
confess him now, I will lose caste in Jerusalem. I will 
let him go." Nicodemus and Joseph might have done 
that; but they just took their stand. And how it has 
lived! It was the best act that Joseph ever did. And 
don't you think he lay down in that sepulcher all the 
more sweetly and cheerfully to think that Christ came 
ap out of it? What a privilege! To lie in the sepul- 
cher that Christ came out of. He might have given thou- 
sands of dollars of money and not told it. But that 
one act he did for Jesus has outlived it all. So when 
we do any thing for Him with the purest motives, He 
will bless us. That widow, perhaps, did not know what 
she was doing when she put those two mites into the 
treasury. But how it has come along down the ages! 
That woman that brought that alabaster box brought it 
for the Master. There is as much fragrance to that 
alabaster box now as there was when she broke it. It has 
filled the earth all these eighteen hundred years. 

O, my friends, let us confess Jesus Christ in season 
and out of season. Let us give no uncertain sound. Let 
Let the world know that we are on the Lord's side. 
Let every particle of our influence be on the Lord's 
ride. When I went to Europe, in 1867, 1 was intro- 
duced to a wealthy merchant in Dublin, a gray-haired, 
fine looking man. Said he to the London merchant 



HIBLR RXAI>I7<e«. 339 

who introduced me, "Is this man all O. O.?" The 
London merchant colored, "I don't know what you 
mean by that." "Is he out and out for Jesus Christ?" 
I have never forgotten the two O's. I would rather be 
D. L. Moody, O. O., than D. L. Moody, D. D. or LL. 
D. What we want to-day is to be on His side, out and 
out 



PRAYERS BY MR. MOODY 

Our Heavenly Father, we come to wait on Thee for 
the gi \ of Thy Spirit for service. We want it above 
everytung else. O, God, give us the Spirit! Empty 
us of s^lf, of self-seeking. O God, bring us down into 
the dust before Thee, so that we may be filled with the 
Holy Ghost, so that we may have power with God and 
with man! O, thou God of Elijah, we pray that a 
double portion of Thy Spirit may come upon us to-day, 
that we may be anointed to do the work Thou hast for 
us to do ! We know that we have but a little while to stay 
here. In a few months or years, at longest, we will all 
be gone. O, God, help us to bear fruit while we live! 
May we no longer be living in this lukewarm state. 
May we no longer be toiling day after day and month 
after month, and seeing no fruit O, Jesus, Master, 
Thou hast gone up on high; Thou hast led captivity 
captive; Thou art at the right hand of God, and Thou 
hast power. O, give us power! Thou canst impart 
power. Thou canst quicken us into new life. Thou 
canst give us a fresh anointing. We pray that Thou 
will do it to-day. We pray that Thou wilt breath upon 
lis a breath from heaven. Grant that we may know 
what it is to have the Holy Ghost resting upon us for 
service. We pray for these ministers that are going to 
stand up in their pulpits on the coming Sabbath. O, 
may there be a new man in every pulpit in Cleveland! 
May the power of God rest upon them and upon their 
ministry! Bless, we pray Thee, the elders, the deacons, 
and the church officers, the stewards and the wardens, 

340 



PRATSRS BY MR MOODY. 341 

O, God, breathe upon them the breath of life ! and may 
there be a quickening in every gospel church in Cleve- 
land. We ask it all in the name and for the sake of 
Thy blessed Son. Amen. 

Our Heavenly Father, help us now to realize that we 
are in Thy presence. Help us to realize how holy and 
pure Thou art, and how impure we are. We would 
take the place of the Publican to-day, and we would 
smite upon our breasts, and cry, " God be merciful to 
us sinners I " We are not worthy of Thy love ; we are 
not worthy of Thy mercy, but Jesus has bid us come 
in His name, and make our wants known. O, Blessed 
Heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, bless every 
soul in this hall to-day! We pray that there may 
not be one that shall leave this hall to-day with 
the spirit of the Pharisee! May we not go out of here 
thanking God that we are not like other people! O, 
may we take our place in the dust, and may our cry be, 
"God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Or may our cry 
be like that of the Syro-Phcenician woman, u Lord help 
me!" Or like that of Peter, "Lord, save or I perish!" 
If Thou dost not save us, Blessed Master, we will 
perish, and so we come to Thee for salvation. We 
come to Thee for help to-day, and now we pray that 
Thou wilt give us help. Amen. 

Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the privi- 
lege we have this beautiful Sabbath day of coming to- 
gether within these walls, to worship Thee, and we 
pray that Thou wilt give us to-day the spirit, for we read 
in Thy Word that they that worship Thee must worship 
Thee in spirit and in truth ; so we ask that Thou wilt give 
as to-day freely of the spirit that we may know how to ap- 
proach Thee; that we may know how to come to Thee 



342 PRAYERS BY MR. MOODY. 

with all our wants ; that we may know how to make our 
requests known unto Thee. And we pray that to-day, 
as we attempt to lift out thoughts to Thee in prayer, 
Thou wilt hear and answer our prayer and give us to- 
day a token of what we are to have in this city in this 
coming month. We pray that this may be the best 
month that this city has ever seen ; that there may be 
days of the right hand power of the Son of God. We 
pray that there may be a blessed and mighty work of 
Christ in this city. All our expectations are from Thee. 
We know that man has not the power to reach the 
human heart; but we pray that the spirit may convict of 
sin, that the Holy Ghost may do his office work, and 
that the work may be deep and thorough; that it may 
not be the work of the flesh ; that it may not be the work 
of man; that it may not be like the morning cloud that 
shall soon pass away; but may it be deep and thorough; 
may it be the work of God Almighty; and we pray that 
each one of us may take s>ur places in the dust before 
Thee, and that we may humble ourselves under Thy 
hand, so that Thou canst shine and speak through us, 
who bear the name of Jesus Christ. 

May the day be not far distant when there shall be 
streams of salvation going forth from this city that shall 
make the towns and villages throughout this great State 
glad. We pray that there may be power in all these 
meetings that the power of the Lord may be present to 
heal those that shall gather within those walls. 

And we pray for the careless and indifferent that have 
come here this afternoon out of idle curiosity. O, that 
there may be power here to-day to convict them of 
sin and to convert them, that they may become children 
of God and heirs of heaven. 

We pray for those who have gone to the other meet- 
ing. May the spirit be there in mighty power, and may 



PRAYERS BY MR. MOODY. 343 

those that may speak, speak with power from on high^ 
and may the power of God be not only upon the speak- 
ers, but upon him who shall sing the songs of Zion. 

We pray that Thou wilt bless the singing of these 
Gospel hymns ; and as our brother shall sing from day 
to day here, we pray that the spirit may carry the truth 
down into the hearts of the people ; that there may be 
many that shall be blessed by heari ng the Gospel sung. 

Now, Heavenly Father, wilt Thou give us all the 
spirit of prayer and supplication, and while we are here 
together to-day may there be one wave of united prayer 
going to the throne of grace, for the power of God to be 
felt here; and Christ shall have all the praise and glory. 
Amen. 

EVENING SERVICE. 

Our Heavenly Father, we look again to Thee for Thy 
blessing upon this waiting congregation. We pray that 
Thou wilt this night help us as we wait upon Thee. 
Help us to call our wandering thoughts in from the 
world, from its cares, from its troubles, and from its 
pleasures, and may our thoughts be centered upon heaven 
and heavenly things to-night, and may every heart in 
this assembly receive the Word of God; may that word 
be preached with power, and may it find its way to many 
a heart; may very many have the moral courage given 
them to stand up and confess the Lord Jesus Christ in 
their homes or in their places of business, and wherever 
their lot may be cast. Lord, help each one of us that 
professes to be thv disciple to be bold and fearless. May 
we not be ashamed of the cross of Jesus Christ, which is 
the power of God unto salvation. O, may each and 
every one of us be ready at all times and in all places to 
confess Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. O, 
God, we now look to Thee for Thy blessing upon those 
that have come in here out of mere curiosity. May the 



344 FmAYKHS BY MR. MOODY. 

Spirit of God touch their hearts to-night. May the 
scales be removed from their eyes. May they believe 
the record of God's Son. May they believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and be saved. May this be the night of 
their salvation. May this be the night we have prayed 
for — the night when God shall make bare His arm to 
save. May there be a great salvation of souls to-night 
We pray Thy blessing to rest upon the men's meeting 
in yonder church. Son of God go with us as we go from 
this building to that meeting. May there be many 
drawn to that place; may there be many that shall stand 
on the Lord's side, and we shall give Christ the praise 
and glory in this life and in the life to come. Amen. 

Our Heavenly Father we now look to Thee for Thy 
blessing upon the hymns that have been sung, and upon 
the word of God that shall be read, and the remarks that 
shall be made. We pray that the Spirit of God may be 
here to-night, carrying home the truth to our hearts and 
consciences, and may the blind eyes be opened that men 
may see their need of Christ; that they may see their need 
of the blessed Savior that has come into the world to 
seek and to save that which was lost, for Thou knowest 
how sin has blinded many and how Satan has deceived 
thousands, and how the world is luring men away from 
heaven and from eternity and from eternal things. O, 
Thou God of all grace, let Thy power be felt here to- 
night. Give us, we pray Thee, freely of the Spirit 
May the Spirit of God do its office work, and may there 
be many that shall be led to inquire what they shall do 
to be saved to-night. 

Bless our brother who shall preach in the adjoining 
church to-night; let Thy blessing rest upon him. May 
very many be born of the Spirit, born again, born from 
above, that we may meet them in Thy kingdom. We 
ask it in the name and for the sake of Thy beloved Son. 
Amen. 



PRAYERS BY MR. MOODY, 345 

Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy blessing 
and precious Word, for the privilege we have this even- 
ing of reading the words that fell from the lips of our God 
and Master while here upon earth. We pray that Thou 
wilt teach us to understand the lesson that Thou wouldst 
teach us by this miracle. Lord, help us that we 
may cast away all unbelief. We pray that there may be 
many in this city of Cleveland sitting at Thy feet clothed 
and in their right minds with the evil spirt cast out of 
them. Son of God, manifest Thy power in this place 
to-night Make this place awfully solemn on account of 
Thy power. Give us a message from on high. May 
the word sink deep into our hearts. May much good 
be done here this night We pray that thy blessing may 
rest on each and every one of us that profess to be dis- 
ciples of the Son of God. May we hunger and thirst 
until we are filled with righteousness, with faith and the 
Holy Ghost We pray that Thou wilt remember in 
much mercy the Christian workers gathered here to- 
night. May they have fresh power given them — -a new 
life, a new power. We pray for all these church officers, 
for the deacons, the elders, the church wardens and 
stewards gathered here to-night. We pray for every 
Sabbath-school superintendent and Sabbath-school teach- 
er. Give them to understand the worth of souls. May 
they awake to their great responsibilities. O God, help 
us to realize the responsibilities resting upon us. Grant 
that during the next thirty days in this city we may see 
them coming by scores and by hundreds into Thy king- 
dom, and Thy name, blessed Savior, shall have the praise 
and glory . Amen. 

Our Heavely Father, we pray that thy blessing may 
rest upon the words that have been spoken in weakness 
May they be carried home to our hearts with power, and 



346 PRAYERS BY MR. MOODY. 

grant that there may be many a heart stirred here to- 
night to go out into the vineyard and work for Thee. 
O Lord help us as parents to labor for the salvation of 
our children, that they may be with us in glory and not 
one of them shall be missing when Thou comest to 
make up Thy Jewels. 

Wilt Thou spare them as a man spares his own son. 
May we have the joy of seeing them come in the morn- 
ing of their lives and give themselves to Thee. 

And now we pray for these Sabbath-school teachers. 
May their hearts be burdened this night for their scholars, 
and may they not rest, but may they go to their homes 
and may they plead with them to come to Christ. May 
they bring them to the meeting, and may we have the 
joy of seeing them coming out and taking their stand on 
the Lord's side. O, Father! for Jesus Christ's sake wilt 
Thou hear our prayer and wilt Thou answer our petition; 
and grant that this night the answer may come. May 
we not rest day nor night until we see those that are 
about us brought to the kingdom of God, and Thy name 
shall have the praise and the glory. Amen. 

Our Heavenly Father, we praise Thee for this blessed 
gospel that brings such news. We thank Thee tha' 
Thou didst send Jesus Christ into this world to save it. 
And we thank Thee, blessed Savior, that Thou didst 
leave that upper world — that world of light — and come 
down into this dark world, and that Thou hast lit it up 
by Thine own light; that Thou now dost come and 
offer to dwell with us. 

Oh, that men maybe wise to-night! Oh, that they 
may make room in their hearts for Jesus Christ! Oh, 
that they may say now from the depths of their heart, 
"Lord Jesus, come and dwell with me!" May they 
invite Him to their hearts and homes as Martha and 
Mary did at Bethany, 



PRAYERS *Y MR. MOODY. 347 

Oh, Spirit of God! wilt Thou work mightily, and 
grant that many this night may be born again, born of 
the Spirit, born from above, that they may this night 
take Christ to be their way, their truth and their life, 
and Thy name shall have the praise and the glory. 
Amen. 

Our Heavenly Father, open our eyes to night that we 
may know whether we are building on the rock of ages 
or not. If we are building on a sandy foundation, may 
our minds be opened to-night by the Spirit of God so 
that we may know, and that we may be led to build 
upon that rock that Thou hast laid in Zion, that precious 
corner stone, that tried stone, the stone that has been 
rejected by the builders, that has become the head and 
the corner stone. May we build all our hope upon that 
rock and that alone. Amen. 



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